2018 - A Year in Review

On the eve of the new year, it is natural to reflect on what transpired over the course of 365 days and evaluate the progress that was made towards the epic story that is your life. No doubt there have been celebrations and failures along the way, but that is what makes the epic story so fascinating and the epic hero so relatable. That is why I started the Twitter hashtag #OwnYourEpic 2 years ago. Oftentimes, however, we forget that we are the hero in our own stories and that we are writing our epic as we go. In this day and age of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., we spend a great deal of time watching and admiring others through their shared experiences and in the process, lose sight of the things that we are doing. We sometimes hope and wish to live the lives that others are sharing with us and forget that that we all have individual journeys that we must travel ourselves. We all must understand that until we are ready to own our circumstances, choices, hopes, and fears will we truly be able to break free and live our epics to the fullest.

This year, I took a sabbatical from writing my blog. My journey on the #RoadToAwesome was continually moving forward, but I needed to stop and take stock of where I was both personally and professionally. I needed this time to make some changes and do some soul searching. I had to evaluate my epic and the character I was portraying to others. During this year-long reflection, I discovered that while I was doing exactly what I wanted to do, I wasn't necessarily being the person/character that I wanted to be. I felt an imbalance in my life and it was up to me to make changes to rectify this. I discovered that I could not be the best for others if I wasn't doing what was best for me and my family. Because of this, I made a bold decision to change the narrative and path of my epic story. It wasn't easy, but it was necessary for me to continue moving forward.

This year marked the culmination of one chapter of my life and started a new one. The decision to conclude one chapter and start a new one was not made lightly. I switched jobs and moved my family to another state 600 miles away, and in the process, left behind all that I had known for the first 40 years of my life. It has been said that if you love something, you need to let it go. If it comes back to you, it is yours forever. In my epic, I needed to make a decision of letting go of a job I loved in order to renew the passion I have for serving students in the field of education. I was rewarded by having the love returned to me, albeit far away from home. What this experience taught me is that although change can be extremely difficult, it is a necessary part of the growth process. My choice allowed me to rediscover the joy in what I do and how I live. It has allowed me to reconnect to the profession of being an educator and Principal.

Indeed, this year has been one of great change and reflection for me. It was the year that I needed in order to make the next chapter of my epic one that I can be proud of. I am not naive enough to think that the challenges facing public education can be resolved by simply packing up and moving to another state. I am, however, idealistic enough to think that a new canvas presents awesome opportunities to paint a better picture. My journey is not a new one, but rather, one that can be built upon previous experiences. The characters that I have met along this new path (students, teachers, parents, administrators) are helping me write this new chapter of my epic, and for that, I am grateful. In the immortal words of Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."