So a friend of mine started a group for all of those who
want to start Whole30 in January. I joined, made my meal plan, my grocery list,
and was super pumped. Then later that morning, I jumped in the shower and began
thinking about what I did and began hysterically laughing. I’m talking guys
from the Shark Tank hysterically laughing.
Why, you ask? Well to think I could cook 2-3 meals a day and
NOT have wine for 30 days, while opening a clothing store, taking college
courses, and starting a new career is a thought for the medically insane.
Our store should finally open this month. This is a picture of our new floors. Yay!
I’m pursuing my masters degree and classes start next week.
And I start teaching social studies at Central Hardin High School on January 15th.
It’s a BIG, pre-midlife crisis kinda January. And I am so
excited!
The only sad part is that it means I’m leaving United Way.
December was my 4 year anniversary at United Way and it’s been an amazing ride.
I intentionally took the job as the Resource Development and
Financial Stability Coordinator at United Way 4 years ago. Meaning, I took a pay cut of
half of what I was making at my previous job with absolutely no benefits
because once I learned about the mission of United Way, I knew I needed to be a
part of it. And it was one of the best choices I’ve ever made. Since then, I’ve
been promoted to Director of Community Engagement and currently the Vice President.
I’ve learned so much about myself, our community, and met so many incredible
people. That’s the part I’m going to miss the most, the people. There are
hundreds of people, donors, volunteers, collaborators, and co-workers I can now
call my friends. All that I’ve met and worked with through United Way.
But it
was because of my time at United Way that I learned where God was leading me
next. I’ve been advocating for the children and youth in our community for
years; the ones who go to bed hungry at night, the ones that in record numbers
are going into foster care, the ones who are living in poverty. I’ve presented
in hundreds of meetings speaking on behalf of these children in effort to raise
money to support organization who are helping to change the odds for these
kids. But for the past year, I’ve had this nudge inside of me that was telling
me it was time for more. I can’t tell you how many times I laid in bed with my
mind racing and my heart sinking at the fact that there are so many kids in our
community who don’t have the support system like I’ve been blessed with. And
while I know that the work I’m doing at United Way is very important work that is
creating that support system for those children, I’ve been feeling like I need
to do more. It was time for me to be on the front lines. I didn’t know where or
how, I just knew that was the next step for me.
I looked into mentoring at Mission Hope For Kids, which is a
great organization. But it would require me to commit one evening a week and
with my sister and I in the process of opening a clothing store, I knew I
needed to reserve any extra free time to that endeavor.
As time continued to pass, another unexpected opportunity
presented itself. To give you a little backstory, my undergraduate degree is in
history and social studies. I knew at some point in my life I wanted to teach
high school social studies. If you’ve followed my blog, you know that life has
led me down various paths from the time I graduated high school until the time
I graduated college. As a single mom in college, I couldn’t afford to take off
half a year to student teach therefore I couldn’t get my teaching certificate.
The idea was to do that later in life once I was more financially stable.
Now
fast forward to the last 5 months or so, everywhere I’ve turned it seemed like
I was hearing about the teacher shortage and how you can now get your teaching
certification through something called Option 6. The first time I heard about
it, I thought, oh that’s neat. The second time I heard about it someone told
me I should look into it as they knew I had a desire to one day teach. But I
loved my job at United Way, I had no intention of leaving anytime soon. But by
the 3rd and 4th time, I finally stopped and thought,
maybe. Maybe there is a reason why I keep hearing about this. Was this the
something I’ve been unknowingly searching for? I'd get to teach social
studies which is one of my passions, specifically helping kids understand the
important role that they play in society. Plus the kicker, I'd get to be an encourager and supporter to the kiddos in my class. I'd get to be a part of their support system. Though I didn’t have any intentions of leaving United Way anytime soon,
and definitely didn’t plan to start teaching in January 2018, and feel totally
unprepared and overwhelmed, I sincerely believe it’s exactly where I’m supposed
to be. And it's exactly where I am going.
So friends, when you see me over the next few weeks, please
ignore the distraught, confused, and overwhelmed look on my, body. Just send
goods vibes, lots of prayers, words of encouragement and lots of wine my way. Send
all the wine. Because January 2018, this girl will be a teacher, student, store owner of an actual brick and mortar store, mom, wife, and all the other things.
Here’s to a year of a lot of exciting changes, and one that maybe I'll eventually be able to do Whole30! Hope your
year is full of exciting new adventures, too!
Confession: I’ve had a lot of self-doubt throughout this
process. I’m not qualified, I hadn’t planned for this, and it meant leaving a
job that I enjoy, I’m good at, and comfortable at, one that would potentially
lead to the title of President/CEO. If I had to make that decision on my own, I
wouldn’t have done it for all of the reasons mentioned above. After initially
looking into it, I had actually decided against it. But it was because of the
encouragement of my family telling me “yes, you can do this” that pushed me to
step out of my comfort zone. And the icing on the cake? After sharing the news
with my boss, co-workers, and all those I work with through United Way, they
also told me the same: through text, email, and face-to-face conversations I’ve
heard nothing but words of encouragement and well wishes from dozens of people.
And my new colleagues have been just as encouraging and helpful. It’s been so reassuring,
I can’t even explain it. :)
