The Journey to Here
The Blog
The Final Letter to My Grandmother
Dear Grammy, As we packed up your home, there were reminders sprinkled everywhere of your dedication to the love you had for your family, as well as challenges in your overall well-being that put love to the test. It was therapeutic to take care of your...
4 Ways to Stop Faking Happy and Gain Control of Your Anxiety
When I battled anxiety, it showed up like a wrecking ball. If you experience it, you know this scene all too well. Just when you think you have escaped, the heaviness comes barreling down after you until it crashes right into your body, taking you on a ride you don't...
Diaries of a #transitioningteacher: Sometimes I Wonder if…
Dear Diary, There’s a recurring scene in the movie “Soul” where all of the souls who have earned all their badges get to jump into their lives. Before the jump, they’ve explored, tried out new things, learned a lot, and then finally, the last badge appears. It’s only...
Diaries of a #transitioningteacher: You Might Think I’m Crazy…
When a loved one passes away, it can leave you feeling a rollercoaster of grief. The permanency of death weighs on you like you're holding up a brick wall while crumbling pieces fall around you, despite your efforts to hold it all together. You know if you move,...
Diaries of a #transitioningteacher: I feel guilty that I feel bored teaching.
Dear Diary, There. I said it. I'm bored. As an art teacher, I feel bored. I'm teaching everyone else how to be creative throughout the day and it leaves no time for my own creativity. Creatively speaking, I'm bored. That's just the beginning. And you know what? I have...
Facing Myself in the Mirror: Week Three
The final week has arrived. I feel more comfortable with myself when I look in the mirror. I talk with myself in the mirror more than I did before starting the mirror work, and in a positive way. I am excited to finish the mirror work and move into more of the...
Facing Myself in the Mirror: Week Two
The time has come to heal my inner child. I pulled out photographs when I was very young. Photographs my mom had collected over the years and decided I should have for myself several years ago. Sometimes I take them out to show my kids what I looked like at their...
Facing Myself in the Mirror: Week One
Today I began Mirror Work. 21 days of intense exploration and affirmations to heal my inner child and learn to love myself. As I walk this path toward healing, I will journal openly and honestly. I will share my thoughts, my feelings, and my progress. I will expose my...
A Wave of Relief After Her Passing
I couldn't even mutter the words. How did she get inside my head? What did I say that gave away my secrets? I burst into tears because I knew what was coming. I've thought those words. I covered my face, ashamed that breaking down revealed what I had thought many...
How to Return to a Place of Trauma When the Place May be Your Job
My role in education has been deeply rooted in my self-worth for as long as I can remember. When my parents divorced, I was very young, and that was the beginning of the seeds sprouting into a false sense of value. As my world changed around me, I looked to my...
The Apology You’ll Never Get
Sometimes your inner pain feels never-ending like there’s no way out of it. Something triggers you to relive a time you don’t want to revisit. Thoughts consume you. Feelings take over, leaving you raw with emotions once again. You might be holding onto resentments...
Tackling Resentments Before They Turn Into Regrets
When you were born, you came into this world pure and beautiful. Your family welcomed you and brought you home to teach you how to navigate life. Those lessons were infused with everything that your family learned in their lives and thought you needed to know, too....
It’s Time to Let go of My Regret: I Didn’t Get to Tell Her That I Forgive Her
It was the morning of November 5, 2021. My first day back to school after a stressful and long quarantine period for myself. On this Friday, my husband was in charge of the at-home virtual schooling of our still-quarantined children while I returned to school to...
How I Knew I Hit Rock Bottom and What I Did About It
It was a Friday morning, late winter in 2018. After another emotional meltdown while I was at my job, I had enough and called off for the day. I needed a break. In all honesty, I needed more than just an extended weekend because I knew that I was at rock bottom. I was...
Stories of the Girl Who Couldn’t See It for Herself
Age 9. School. I sit in my 3rd grade classroom, front row, close to the door. My head is curled up in my arms as I hide my crying face from everything that surrounds me. Peers next to me ignore me, paying more attention to the teacher presenting her lesson in front of...
Pen Pal Letters Between Generations of Me
Dear Teenage Jess, It feels good to connect with you after all of these years, and boy did time fly! By now, you have discovered how much you love to draw and sing, and both the art room and the stage have become a second home for you. These two loves - art and music...
5 Lessons I Learned From Reading My Mother’s Diary
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com I never expected to page through my mom's diaries one day. To be honest, I didn't know how much she wrote about her life until my sister found several scripted treasures when we sorted through mom's home, looking for things...
Who am I Behind the Pain?
At birth, we enter into this world pure and beautiful, handled with care by the medical team, and then embraced by our parents' welcoming arms. Unconditional love reached into our souls long before our physical selves saw the first light of our new physical world....
The Rollercoaster Ride: Courtesy of the Stages of Grief
When I was younger, I loved riding all of the thrill rides, and at the top of my list was the rollercoaster. It didn't matter if the coaster was a small kiddie ride at a carnival, a floorless one, a twisting and turning looped coaster, or one that gave the most...
Returning to Life After Loss in 5, 4, 3, 2 – WAIT!
I tried. I made it through a day and almost an hour of a second day. I returned to work, despite a voice inside of my mind begging me to remain still. The guilt was overwhelming to pick up the pieces of my brokenness, pull up my big-girl pants, and put on a smile....
Spiritual Renewal
Week 10 Dear Diary, I imagined that when my mom passed away, I would be filled with the grief of what could have been, that could not happen on earth. In the fleeting moments after learning of her death, that was exactly what happened. Walking with care, my colleague...
How to Trust in The Process Without Losing Your Mind
Week 5 Dear Diary, I am trusting in the process, which is easier said than done. Clarity for my future has brought excitement and an eagerness to spring forward to the next chapter of my journey. To be honest, I am impatient. I am ready to add value to the lives of...
How to Start Rewriting Your Why With a Simple Strategy
Week 3 Dear Diary, Rewriting my why has been challenging. So many questions float around my mind for consideration. Should I develop a temporary why for the time being? Should the why be for my teaching career? Should it be for my personal life? Should I brainstorm my...
Crafting Your Elevator Speech
“Your excitement about learner-centered education has you envisioning yourself shouting from the rooftops”
Start Before You Are Ready
Start achieving that goal before you are ready!
Get Out of Your Own Way and Reframe Your Thoughts
Several years ago, my district adopted the Danielson Group's Framework for Teaching Evaluation. We all shuffled into our respective schools for our faculty meetings to learn about how the evaluation method would differ from years' past, view the structure of the FFT...
Validation Sets the World on Fire
Take time to recognize the ideas, hard work, and passions of others. Validation is empowering. How do you practice validation with people in your life? How can you do more of it?
Your Interpretation is not my Interpretation
It was the end of the school day, and I was wrapping up in my classroom studio before packing up my things to head home. One of the long-term subs stormed into my room, greeting me with artwork in her hands. I recognized the painting from passing it back to the artist...
Diaries of a #transitioningteacher: It’s Not a Linear Path
Dear Diary, In the spring of 2021, I sat at a desk of one of my three schools and Googled the question, "What can teachers do outside of the classroom with a teaching certificate?" Okay, it may not have been word-for-word that question. But it was pretty darn close. I...
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