Connect

 

For the past few years, I have participated in the one word challenge instead of developing a new years resolution. I feel it is a better process because the act of choosing one word provides me a more general pathway to accomplishing goals rather than being so specific and feeling like an immediate failure when I inevitably fall short. Last year, my one word was #forge because I wanted to put a focus on the fire that burns inside of me and ignite my passions. I feel as if I was pretty successful because I was able to continue working on my blog and I was able to successfully complete a second book entitled #OwnYourEpic: Leadership Lessons in Owning Your Voice and Your Story. Writing is a passion of mine and while I suffer from writer's block occasionally, I was able to forge ahead and finish what I started. Ultimately, I love the one word challenge each year because I may fail at times, but if I am constantly reminding myself that I want to continue to move forward towards an idea or concept, I can feel good about making incremental progress over a period of time. It certainly isn't for everyone, but it works for me.

This year, my one word is #connect. To connect means to bring things together or into contact so that a link can be established. I feel drawn to this word because the past couple of years have been very disconnected. The pandemic has forced many of us to isolate ourselves from others in a variety of ways and in the process, we have lost so many opportunities to engage at a deeper level with people, which in turn, has placed us in an echo chamber where we tend to focus more on our differences rather than our similarities. Now is the time to leave that echo chamber and begin the process of connecting with one another.

This year, I am going to continue to write my blog, but I also want to begin a podcast where I can connect with educators from across the country so they can share their voices and their stories. By providing this platform, my hope is that we can all begin to reconnect and find the joy that has been sucked out of us from the pandemic. If we can begin to relate with people once again by seeing ourselves in their stories, maybe we can rediscover the joy of teaching that we thought we had lost. It might be a stretch, but I'm a dreamer who is always focused on moving forward, so I might as well give it a chance.

#OwnYourEpic #Connect