I was recently challenged to participate in this Principals Are People Too blog topic- and I am thankful for that challenge.
I must have been a very frustrating child for my parents to raise. (Thank goodness they never gave up on me!) I have a tendency to be a bit contrary at times. For example, growing up in Indiana, I was well aware of John Mellencamp (garage back days) earlier than many of my raised out-of-state college friends...so, naturally, when the whole John "Cougar" Mellencamp craze came about, I was done. Everyone else loves a book- please don't tell me that I have to read it....it makes me put it on hold. And yes, I do realize how ridiculous this all is- I missed out on The Fault in Our Stars for six months because of this. So, you can imagine my reaction when everyone in my PLN kept telling me that I need to blog. Ummmm, "No thanks." "I'm good." " I'm too busy." "No one wants to hear/read what I have to say." Fear? Shyness? Probably. But a large part of my resistance was me just being contrary. Or maybe there are so many Must Do items in life that when there comes a time that I actually have a choice, I choose "No." I wonder how many of our students do the same? They feel a loss of control in other areas, so they seize the little they can control.
But here's the thing- once I try one of the things that I have been so resistent to, I tend to LOVE it! Twitter, Voxer, EdCamps.... all examples of new things that came my way and that I have become a strong advocate of. What I have learned (hey, I'm a slow learner) is that people are not encouraging me to try these new things because they want me to fail. Indeed, it is the exact opposite. I am important enough that they want me to succeed! This is certainly the case for my Voxer Family. I cannot imagine life without their daily dose of humor, reality, advice, honesty... So when the challenge was extended to write a blog post on the topic of Principals Are People Too, I just couldn't allow that contrary, Just Say No side of me come out to play.
Principals are people too. Indeed we are. As much as I try to present the image of Calm and Collected, sometimes I lose that cool. While I don't have a problem seeking help in learning new things, I sometimes struggle to share the load. I need to be better at saying "Yes, thank you!" when someone offers a helping hand. I need to do a better job of allowing myself to focus on things beyond my job. When you are married to another educator, it is very easy to talk shop ALL the time. I need to learn to shut that down. I need to find more balance in my life. This is a message that I have shared with staff, encouraging them to take the entire weekend and focus solely on themselves and family. Yet I don't follow my own advice nearly as often as I should. My Voxer Family has helped me with this realization. They remind me that it will all be there tomorrow- but my children, my family, my friends may not be.
So, I am going to say good-bye for now. I will be back- and it won't take 10 months for my post to appear. But in the meantime, I have an evening planned with some very special people.
