Reinventing Yourself

 Reinventing Yourself

Why would you need to?

Where would you begin?

What if the new you scares you?

What if it excites you?

What parts would you focus on?

These are questions we may think about when and if it is your time to reinvent yourself. 

As an educational leader, we encourage teachers and students alike to continue to make an effort towards a personalized goal to reach success. This is a broad idea that can seem daunting to narrow down, but leaders help implement systems that effectively transform learners from every beginning point. That is a momentous task, but it is part of the challenge that so many leaders crave within their domain like education. 

When, then, do leaders begin to hone in on their own pathways towards growth? 

We may have timelines, mentors, building goals, personal goals, but how do we ACTUALLY grow? 

I ask myself this question because I believe there comes a time when we need to stop growing and look at reinvention. That is a transformative action that seems unnecessary to many because we are always going and going. For me personally, I have been on a straight path for many years setting goals and achieving them.

Pushing. Working. Grinding. 

Now, I stop. I listen. I breathe. 

It is time for a new version of myself. I recently had coffee with an old friend who had moments in her life that led to a reinventive self. She and I are similar in our personal pursuit to success and our timelines of reaching those goals are aligned. She worked for a major consumer company making top dollar and decided it was time for reinvention. I asked her what led to this decision and she very specifically shared, "I have had major life moments that most people my age have not experienced. Between the ovarian cancer, experiencing an active shooter situation, and loosing the person I looked up to the most in life, I knew I needed to STOP, LISTEN, and CHANGE." "WOW", I thought. I think my mouth actually dropped in that moment!

Women push to achieve. Women innately care. Women are capable of so much because we were born to DO. One thing we do NOT DO is stop to think about the version we are in this moment because we are so critically focused on all else. 

Now I ask again, how do we know when it is time to reinvent ourselves? Where would we begin? Is is necessary? I am on a personal quest to accept this moment here and now. REINVENTION....BEGIN!

Ren·o·vate in Reality

As an English teacher by trade, I find myself dissecting words on a constant basis. When I think of the word “renovate”, naturally, I break the word apart. 

Yourdictionary.com: Renovate meaning · Renovate is to restore something to a newer or better state. · To impart new vigor to; revive. · To make fresh or sound again, as though new;

Lexico.com: Archaic version: refresh; reinvigorate 

Vocabulary.com

1 restore to a previous or better condition

2 make brighter and prettier

3 give new life or energy to

I love finding meaning in the words we use so often in our vernacular. We live in an amazing home, in an amazing neighborhood with amazing schools for our children. Our home is where we establish a family core. It is where we laugh. It is where we cry. It is where we create memories. 

When we moved into our home a few years ago, although beautiful, our house told the story of the previous family who lived here. The walls were colored with their moments, the layout was tailored to their needs, the style represented their wants and desires. 

In March 2019, Eric and I woke up one morning while hunkering down during the pandemic and said, “It’s time to tear down a wall!”

It was time for our family to make our mark on our house, officially making it our home. 

Naturally, we wanted to take the kids on this journey of giving our home new life. Get a hammer and let’s go!

Mindful Moments

 

As an educator, I have learned the importance of mindfulness inside and outside school walls.

I know children from all walks of life benefit from having time set aside each day to have deep

breathing, relaxation and a moment of intentionality. It is a lot harder to complete this as a mom!

I have had to work hard to reroute my own thinking with my own kids who are 8, 6, and 4. We love

swimming, climbing trees and looking for bugs! It seems “on the go” rings true with my little loves!

In order to progress to more mindfulness at home, I have started Mindful Mondays. This allows our

family to be purposeful with our time in slowing down on Monday evenings. We recently started

using the Yoga Spinner Game from this school supply website and it has been a huge hit! I truly believe we owe it to ourselves to be in the moment, listen to our

bodies, and embrace our inner peace. I started my Nike Training workout app and it has provided

some great mindful training and body awareness. My favorite part is that my darlings are joining in!

Blissful Union

 

Young love. When you think about those who have fallen in love and make the

commitment to have and to hold one another til death do them part what comes to mind?

Passion. Smiles. Date Nights. Endless time to spend talking, laughing, loving…..

Witnessing this union for two souls early in adulthood is a beautiful experience. As I enter the season of almost two decades of choosing my partner and husband every day, I reflect on this young love and wonder what makes love evolve over twenty years. 

Is it the college experience miles apart? 

Is it choosing a career path and meeting those demands with intensity?

Is it changing careers and making sacrifices like time, location and ultimately giving up your own identify to allow your partner's new one to form?

Is it living seas apart to fulfill military obligations for a purpose larger than one can imagine?

Is it the birth of three children entering the world you once knew as yours and is now theirs?

Is it the loss of two babies in the midst of parenting chaos?

Is it the loss of loved ones generations apart but souls so close?

Is it the nightly home projects that become the focus of your eye in order to add some normalcy to this new life?

Is it the countless anniversary flowers from JUST FLOWERS that represent the beauty of love?

What makes love evolve and morph into a familiar companionship that still holds the passion and fire to choose your partner every single day?

Circle of Life

 

Today, I said my goodbyes to GG….

I have never experienced someone’s last breath on Earth until today. It was by far the most

powerful experience I have ever had. 

My grandmother embodied hope, faith, laughter, trust and so much more. The relationships

she created with people were forever. Every moment, big or small, I had her by my side. She

was pivotal for so many people, leading them down a path of goodness and faith. One of my all time favorite places to visit on the web are sites sponsored by The Greater  Good, a company dedicated to always giving back to populations or causes in need. One that grandma would support is The Hunger Site, donating proceeds to kids in need of food. 

The moments leading up to her death changed dramatically with the progression of her

Alzheimer's. When my mom and I were with her, she had moments of knowing who we

were and not knowing who we were. One thing that did not change was how she felt when

we were around. We would laugh. We would cry. We would joke. We would recite the Lord’s

prayer, which she could recite word for word until the last moment. My grandma named a

few people hours before dying. A major moment was when she lifted her arms and out

came the words, “Hey good lookin” which I know in my heart of hearts was her meeting

my grandpa in Heaven. It was a magical moment. Minutes later she took two more

breaths and she was gone. 

This is a season of mourning and remembrance. I cherish my memories with this wonderful

person and try to live as she did; with humility. I will begin working on how we will celebrate

her life through images, song, and story.  Images from Deposit Photos is a great place to find pictures and paintings to capture such a life. I know my heavy heart will continue to heal with time. As my grandma would say, “This too shall pass.”

Growing Pains

My teenage years were effortless yet tiring

My 20’s were adventurous yet confusing

My 30’s have been stable yet different

Throughout the seasons of life, we experience different motivations, different body sizes, different stressors and different means of happiness. As I have gone from the rainforest of Costa Rica to the mountains of Switzerland, I have learned that with each season of life we have growing pains. I have spent the majority of my life putting others before myself and loved every moment. I taught middle school and English learners. I served as a linguist in the military. I have been an elementary administrator and now, I enter a new season and feel the pains of grieving my hard work in education in anticipation of sharing my story with others as a part-time consultant and full-time mom. I will go from wearing belted wool pants to mom jeans! I am humbled by my adventures that have shown me so many parts of this amazing Earth yet eager to see more. I am taking a leap from being a principal to staying home with my three children after an incredibly challenging year and half through the world’s most recent turmoil coined “the pandemic”. Even though I share my inner struggles with my best friend who is also my husband, I needed to write about this major transition to grieve one season in order to begin another. I am so proud of where my career has led me. I now need to center myself with deep breathing and words of encouragement as I put my full self into parenting with no other priorities at hand. I am nervous, but ready.