On Thursday, I'm starting an 11 week learning series, what our facilitator, Jen, is calling a circle. There are 10 women signed up, and from the introductions that are already posted in our online platform, we're in all 4 times zones across the US, and no one else is an educator, but there are quite a few nonprofit leaders. The vibe already feels friendly, welcoming, and focused - Jen's sent us our materials with a handwritten note (LOVE!), and several getting ready emails with clear directions, all the links, and reminders about how to engage. It feels like the very best sort of professional development, and my heart is already in the right place to get started.
I feel like I'm in a time of transition.
Turned 60 this year; husband retired last year, kids well launched and far flung from the nest.
I feel less called to my consulting work (even though I do truly love it) and more called to work in the world - volunteering, organizing, providing care, board work, community-building work.
We have prepared for retirement, even though the financial world feels shaky. (I kid with my husband that if things fall apart, I can go back to a classroom, but my knees and ankle tell another story!)
So it was comforting to read the opening pages of our work book for this series. The Introduction title is "Start where you are" and I'm opening up my journal and writing about this right now:
- My identity as an educator; a mom; a wife, daughter, sister.
- My commitment to justice, and the ways I strive to learn and take action.
- My reading life, and my writing life, which I want to cultivate.
- The needs of my home - simplifying, organizing, creating a calmer space for these next 10 years.
- Finding more hobbies, cultivating my valuable friendships, writing more letters.
- Feeding my strong desire to be a part of life in schools, but also, feeling exhausted by being a "fixer", as coaching continues to be more urgent problem-solving than developing leadership skills (it hurts me to acknowledge this).
Jen defines transition as our "internal psychological and emotional process of responding to change" and I'm finding comfort in naming: these are months of change, and writing at the top of the page my own reminder: things will be different, I am becoming the next chapter of myself, this is good and important work.
In future Slices, I know I'll share more, but for now, I'm putting it out there: I'm investing in this reflective time, an 11 week gift to me for leaning into reflection and writing, navigating and finding the new north stars to guide me.
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Also noting the texts I'm bringing into this 11 week journey:
The Lightmaker's Manifesto by Karen Walrond
Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection by Deepa Iyer
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