Looking for the Blessings of God's Goodness

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Whoa! What Happened to my Life?!? Everything's Upside Down!

"I really need to blog more" is an understatement since my blog title indicates such extremeness. To say my life has been turned upside down is not an exaggeration! I wish I had the discipline to be a consistent blogger (a challenge one day I will accomplish!). For you who have followed my journey through social media, you know some of what is going on, but for others, let me give you the cliff notes version:
  • I sold my house, left South Carolina and moved to Texas in exactly one month this summer.
  • I'm back in apartment living :(
  • I moved from a district office position as Director of Instructional Technology back into the classroom under an amazing principal I saw doing excellent things at his school and in his sphere of influence. I knew I wanted to be a part of this type of organization, so I was willing to take the risk to step back into the classroom to work with this type of leader and have potential amazing opportunities in the future.
  • I left an established state education PLN that I loved and decided to reach for connecting and building relationships with my national Twitter PLN I had grown to love.
  • I'm basically rebuilding my entire life over again, thankfully not as a twenty year old, but as a wiser adult using my life experiences to make this transition much easier.
  • To say I'm totally excited and immensely scared to death makes no sense, but represents my heart and mind right now.





There's more, but that catches you up on the highlights. This life transition happened in the beginning of August, so I'm reflecting back almost 90 days into the experiences of my new life. I'm still considering my thoughts about everything, but here's just a couple:
  • Did I REALLY move to Texas? I know I drove 17 hours (split up between two days) and there are blatant signs of Texas all around me as I travel the state, but I still don't feel like I'm in Texas...hmmm, I guess this will come with time. I'll tell you how I feel about this perspective after traveling back and forth from Texas to South Carolina a couple times.
  • I LOVED the experience of leading a whole district in their transition to the digital world! It gave me great joy to help reshape teacher's mindsets about technology in the classroom. Digital transformation through becoming a Google for Education district, rolling out 1:1 Chromebooks, and sharing my passion for instructional technology was what I had trained so many years to accomplish. Was I stepping backwards by going back into the classroom. Absolutely not! I viewed this new season of life as potential stepping stones for even greater platforms to share my enthusiasm and passion for instructional technology. I'm just in a holding pattern waiting with great anticipation to see what the Lord does with my future.
  • Moving back to the classroom has been challenging, but there are so many positives from this move; I know it's only going to mold me into an even greater leader in my profession. First, I am so much more mindful and respectful of teacher's time when I recommend technology ideas and perspectives. It is so easy for district leaders to pass down initiatives (sometimes unknowingly and sometimes not) showing a lack of respect for the teacher's hard work and job stressors. To much is being pushed down onto teachers, and I firmly believe this would change if district office administrators had to go back into today's classroom. Second, technology has drastically changed since the two and a half years I was in the classroom! I'm grateful to have the opportunity to personally implement all the amazing things I used to recommend to teachers as well as to be able to restock my experience tool belt! Finally, the children, while challenging at times, bring a component to my life that my nurturing heart wants to embrace. My students are truly like adopted children that I get to love and pour my heart into. I get to make a difference and be a change maker in their lives.
  • I need community, people to live life with experiencing the ups and down, joys and disappointments, encouraging each other as we do this thing called life together! As a single girl, I have found it's extremely difficult to build community, and it's something I have to proactively pursue. Many of the weekends I've been in Texas, I've experience excellent opportunities, more than SC could offer, to come together with fellow educators to communicate and collaborate about a wide spectrum of information, but especially about my passion, instructional technology. I have LOVED this part of being in Texas! Also, I'm grateful for a fellow teacher who invited me to a ladies Bible study that I've been able to join and be a part of one day a week to help build a community basis. But there's still a desire and great need for more! When you live life alone, there are many struggles of loneliness and hopelessness that can to easily creep in if you're not careful. I've seen lives destroyed from this and know this is the reason I have to proactively search for community!
I know that part of the beauty of life is sharing each other's struggles and successes bringing hope and encouragement as we live life together. How many others are experiencing struggles that I can encourage through sharing? Finally, even if no one else reads this post, I know building my focus for what needs to be accomplished is a must! So, as I rest in my front porch chaise enjoying my beautiful potted plants, the fluffy wispy clouds and pastel blue skies, I contemplate my next steps! :)


#Grateful #Thankful #KeepInspiring