I’m sitting in my almost empty house which is three hours from my job. My house is for sale and there is an Open House today and so I drove here last night to make sure everything looks OK. The last adult child that was living here moved out two weeks ago. Another adult child stopped by last night and cleaned out the dishes and pots and pans for his place with four other 20 year olds.
My desk back at work is full of things to still do before teachers return next week. I still have one teacher to hire plus a few specialists for our special education coop. Parents are calling and want to meet before the school year starts. I have to prepare for a due process hearing. I still have to put the finishing touches on a few workshops I’m involved in next week. I should be doing more reading and I want to put life back into the blog I started last year.
After spending the last two years immersed in my first administrative position, I decided to get back on track and complete the last stretch of my doctoral program - the dissertation. I have been spending the last few months writing my lit review and in less than two weeks, I defend it to my committee so I can move forward and begin collecting data.
I am sure you have a plate just as full. You may have wondered, like me, how to put in a request for another month of July to get a few more things done.
Since that won’t be happening, I need to remember to just breathe. The first day will arrive and kids will walk in the door and we will be there ready to serve. Eventually, my house will sell and my dissertation will be completed. It’s the journey, not the end goals that I need to focus on and as crazy as these last few weeks have been and the ones coming up, I need to remember to be grateful that I am able to wake up each morning, get out of bed and have a purpose in life.
Are you grateful for the challenges that are before you? I showed the video of “The Kid That No One Wanted’ from Angela Maier’s post to about 90 special ed teachers this past week as part of our workshop. After we watched it, I told them that they have been given the gift of the next 180 school days to make a difference in a child’s life and that I know they can do it because of the incredible skills and talents they possess. Which they do.
You might be feeling overwhelmed right now with all that is before you and all that you think you should be doing. Just remember: One day at a time. Be grateful. Enjoy the journey.
Breathe.
Reggie Engebritson