Chapters & Books
I got curious and went looking to see if I had archived some of my older posts…silly me, I have Input in my top five strengths, you BET I have them archived and probably a picture of the whiteboard where I sketched them out…heh.
Here is one from when I left my classroom as a high school English educator.
January, 2016: A Chapter Closed - in fast forward
I started packing this week. I also started the perpetual garage sale (all free) on the three tables to the left of our learning space. Ugly silver fabric covering the tan bulletin board came down. Quotes collected for student inspiration when I could not offer any slowly came down off the walls. Thinkers like Maya, Zora, Atticus and Shakespeare slowly found their way to the hands of desperate students uncomfortable with change or to the recycle bin, happy to have played their part in this small scene.
Three weeks.
It was too small to teach all the lessons left.
Who will remind them to push through the apathy when it hits in March? Who will remind them that their existential crisis in February is normal? Who will remind them that they cannot choose the wrong school? For GOD’S SAKES YOU ARE GOING TO COLLEGE! It doesn’t matter! YOU will find your niche. You will give in and over to the culture and add your own. Oh, you have so many spices to add to this global recipe! Who would remind them of that?
Two weeks.
I was too small for the love and grief.
I just do my job. That is what I do. I see them, scared, angry, pissed, frustrated, or small. I see them, meet them, and then we MOVE. There are no excuses. There are no rocks to hide under. I see each of them individually and collectively. I see them and we move…I just didn’t expect that they needed that.
One week.
It all became too big. My ugly cry. My grief. My second guessing…was leaving this space the right thing to do after sixteen years in it?
One year.
It has been one year. At least once a week I am asked, “Do you miss it?”
Every day.
But sometimes the call is farther down the trail than where you were. Sometimes to go after what is necessary, you have to leave what is known and comfortable.
I miss the classroom. I miss the dialogue. I miss the interaction with students.
But it is worth longing for those moments in small doses as I work with other collaborators in our community to open up doors for students, to create spaces in which experiential learning is the norm and not the exception. I am working for all those wanting the best for our future, and that, well, that was bigger than my four walls, it was bigger than my small lessons, and it was bigger than my comfort.
I left them with three pieces of advice:
Be Here. Be Humble. Be Human
Explore and Engage. Laugh at yourself. Remember that we have worth because we breathe.
I have a lot of chapters in my book o’ life, but this career pathway part, I haven’t really looked at in a while. It has a lot of chapters in it and five of them added just in the last nine years. Each position has given me the ability to hone my Strengths, use them in a variety of settings, so I can understand better the contexts of peoples’ stories. I speak a lot of industry language, and it helps me be a better coach, a better consultant, and a better version of me. I like this quirky path I took from K-12 to business to state government to nonprofit to higher ed to Julie Brock Consulting. I look forward to seeing this chapter play out, the others have been fabulous reads…this one won’t be any different.
Latest loves:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin I am waking from a long creative hibernation, and this book is wiping the sleep from my eyes.
Tribal Leadership The state of the world, as of late, has had me reflecting on this concept. I’m looking for stage five leaders.
