In my last post, I have noticed and believe that we are all wearing a backpack, heavy with a collection of emotional weight connected to the particular difficulties of our daily lives. The collection of emotions have incredible negative effects on us, but are uniquely different for each person. Think of all the things added to the normal rollercoaster of life in just the last 9 months that would make our walk harder. We have all lost something, which means we have all gone through mourning. The weight of that is varied for each of us, but has value to each of us independently. We have lost traditions, passions, events, celebrations, jobs, dreams, and some of us have even lost people we love. The emotions of that loss are what we carry in our backpack. So let’s go grab a mirror, and work to see our own backpack, which is often the hardest one to recognize. Are we taking time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves the hard questions?? Are we prepared to answer and deal with our own emotional weight? If you are like me, you might have said, “Trying to recognize the backpack is just MORE WEIGHT IN THE BACKPACK!!!”” Seems counterproductive, but we must begin with ourselves to not only see if we can lighten our load, but also prepare ourselves to potentially serve as leaders and lighten the load of others. There are many ways you could accomplish this, but I believe it must include the following question: “What is one thing consuming your thoughts and heavy on your heart more than any other thing in your life TODAY?!?!” Two elements to this first step. One Thing. Today. You can’t dump the whole backpack on the bed and walk away with an empty backpack. That isn't realistic. I believe there is one thing that is heavier, that is making your back hurt a little more TODAY. Step 1: NAME THAT THING. You will be astonished that just by naming it will start to change the shape and weight of your backpack. It allows you to begin to look at it differently, and begin to ask the next series of questions that will start to relieve you of some of that weight you are carrying around and prepare you to be a stronger better leader for others. This is Part Two in a series focused on this concept. Follow me on FB or Instagram to journey with me to lighten the load of our students, teachers, parents, and community.
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Thanks for stopping by. These are musings on how I see leadership in the world and how I continue to try and grow through my lens.
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