You Can't Always Get What You Want: Learning To Live With It

“You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

The Rolling Stone lyrics have ran through my head over the last two weeks. And today, like many other times in my life, the lyrics hold meaning. In the past, I’ve applied the lyrics to my personal and social life. But today, the lyrics apply to my professional life.

Some of my time and energy away from this blog during the fall semester was for something I wanted. While I do not know the result of the desire and energy, I feel positive about my role. I realized about two weeks ago, that while I’m thankful for chasing the “want” I need to find a way to get what I “need.” This blog, my research on video games strategies and information literacy, the research community I’ve been lucky enough to tap into, and the people I’ve met in the field are really what I “need.”

Regardless of what my professional situation is, I have the ability to continue my professional development and advocacy of games in information literacy. My renewed commitment to this blog over the past week is part of realizing I have to provide what I “need” no matter what I think I “want.”

While this may sound a little cryptic, it’s been cathartic for me. Steven Bell’s ACRLog post that I talked about earlier discussed how blogs provide younger people in the professional a voice. This has most certainly been the case for me, and I’m very grateful. Even though my voice over this year has not always been as clear (learning) and as consistent (sorry) as I’d hope, I am very thankful for the opportunities this blog has helped create.

During this time of year of reflection and celebration, I want to thank everyone who’s helped provide those opportunities. Thank you to everyone for reading. Thank you to everyone who’s engaged in conversations, both online and off. Thank you to those whose work I’ve been able to highlight and discuss over the past year. And thank you to anyone out there who is advancing video games in libraries and education.

Thank you for giving me what I need. And I hope that I can continue to work to find ways to effectively give our students what they “need” as well. And maybe through video games and game strategies the students can even get what the “want” as well.