Start Before You're Ready (1/365)

For the last several months, I’ve contemplated starting (restarting, actually) my blog.

I’ve prepared, researched, organized, and slowly but surely, leaked to some trusted confidants that I’m writing again.

I decided, definitively, that I would begin on “this date” and end on “that date”.

And then, I got the itch. My site is as ready as it’s going to be. My head space is as ready as it’s ever going to be. And I’ve drafted a few ideas, in preparation for July 1, which was to be my launch date.

Then, I thought about our last school year, the previous summer, and the last 15 months. It’s a time that’s been marked by others doing things, not because they were ready, but because they were called to do it.

School leaders, teachers and counselors, essential staff (school nurses, food service providers, secretaries, custodians, security, bus drivers, and other paraprofessionals), mission-critical to remote, hybrid, and reopening operations. Families and their children, our students, who joined or rejoined before they were fully ready.

I’ve made a point to put myself in uncomfortable situations that challenge me, now more than ever. Right now, however, I find myself thinking about these people, a lot.

This past weekend, we closed out another school year, but one like we’ve never seen before. And those mentioned above, they made it happen. Health and safety went hand-in-hand with learning, teaching, and leading, before, during, and eventually, after a global pandemic.

So why, I ask myself, should I stick to a plan, especially one that I’ve set up for myself and centers on my own comfort?

Why, if kids and families, teachers and counselors who’ve modeled resilience and flexibility since March 13, 2020, why should I wait…to be ready?

Initially, I’d said I was going to launch my 365 day commitment to writing and publishing on July 1.

But no. I’m doing it today.

Because being a leader means so many things, and if those who look to lead can do it, I can do it.

In fact, I must do it.

Ready or not, #LearningLeadership365, here we come.