Fieldnotes

I’ve decided to change my blog name to Fieldnotes.

Why Fieldnotes? Because I have realised this is what I’ve always done.

One part of me that does seem to stay fairly consistent is my curiosity. I’m always “in the field” paying attention. Noticing things people say. Things they worry about. How friction and difficulties are handled. What lights them up and gets them moving. How significant challenge can be transformational, but only when the conditions are right - when there is enough care, support and safety alongside it. I’m interested in trends in the wider world. Research that catches my attention and emerging ideas. Random comments or conversations that I then find myself thinking about for days as I’m doing other things - especially when I’m showering. Sometimes I honestly wonder if I’d never have any new ideas or realisations if I didn’t shower!

And for those of you who are a bit quirky (I do love quirky), and who enjoy words as much as I do, you’ll probably have already noticed I’ve chosen Fieldnotes, not Field Notes.

Partly, it’s because I simply like how it looks. As one word it flows better. It feels more cohesive. I know field notes is standard grammar, but fieldnotes is also a term used in qualitative research for the observations researchers make while immersed in the world they’re studying, and that feels right for me.

This writing is kind of like my own form of qualitative research.

Which also feels rather fitting. When I left teaching, I moved into research. I had no idea what I was doing and very little confidence, but I kept noticing, thinking, collecting and trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I even ended up managing market research at Fisher & Paykel.

While my life path then took me in a different direction, I suspect I never really left “research”. I just changed the field.

I have probably spent my entire life noticing, collecting and thinking. My ponderings here will sometimes have an extremely small sample size: n of 1 (me!). Sometimes they’ll come from conversations, random comments and little gems I hear or notice. Sometimes from research, books, or bigger shifts I find myself attuning to.

I’m increasingly curious about how relationships, families, friendships, environments and the systems around us shape what’s possible - both expanding and limiting us, in a world where inequality, disconnection and uncertainty are on the rise.

I’m curious about the conditions that help us live satisfying lives: where we are challenged, stretched and invited forward, while also being known and met with enough care, support, acceptance and belonging.

And if sharing what I’m noticing helps you walk your own unique life’s path with just a little more clarity and ease, then that would make writing this worthwhile.

I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you.

And if you’re interested, I write on Substack too. You can find me here.