the perfect storm of inspiration & motivation

Stacy Reiber’s post about the vision for her week off over holiday break and the reality of what really took place was my first source of inspiration.  “Here’s the dream I had laid out… Here’s what actually happened...” Her blog for The Family Keystone is anchored in the belief that each family can develop a mission statement and use that as their guidepost when things get off course.   Her writing is authentic and relatable. She inspires me every time we get time to sit and talk and with every post and blog she publishes. The below text messaging helped too.

Clearly I had to stop waiting for the “dream I laid out” and simply accept the inevitable imperfection.
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Next was the application submission to Tomorrow’s Classrooms Today 2020 Conference at Rider University.  It is an energizing, immediately applicable experience that myself and two instructional coaches want to be a part of by sharing our own story.  There was a field in the application for a website/blog... ​Could I leave it blank?

It was superb timing when I received a text from my super motivating friend Ozzy who is the brainchild of the START institute.  “What’s the one small step you can take today towards your goals?”  Domain name, purchased. Home page, “developed.”  It's amazing what a check in text can do!

While cooking dinner that same evening, I synced Google home up with my phone and chose a brief podcast by George Couros about taking risks.  “I have released episode 1 of a weekly podcast that I have planned for years but, finally, have taken the initiative to put together and release it to the world.” ​ Well, it hasn't been years, but this blog has been a conversation with my "support team" for quite a while.

Last Saturday morning, I was able to secure 50 whole minutes while my 5 year old son watched Rescue Riders.  This opened me up to participate in a Twitter chat made up of thoughtful and passionate people in education called #satchat.  Sometimes I follow chat threads without participating and always soak up little gems. The chat on this particular Saturday was on assessment.  It drew me in and I threw my thoughts out to the chat. The responses and messages to some of my posts fueled my fire and firmed up the purpose of the blog.  I realized that when I tweet or (now) blog, I am throwing it all out there in an effort to: reflect, engage with the thoughts of others and grow in my own learning.  

In my final conversation about the WHY behind this blog, my wonderful colleague Erica guided me: read blogs you love to get a feel for their flow and just start writing.  Since Teacher Tom's was the first blog I read following this conversation - and it was about BLOGGING - I knew...it was time. 

Although I didn’t think this blog post would be my first blog post, I am putting it out there and taking the risk.  Inspiration, motivation and gratitude.