During Get Your Lead On in Charlotte last week something I said resonated not only with leaders but hit me a little differently than normal.

Don’t confuse your calling with your title. 

This has been a significant chance for me to realize that in my life… as an adult, a valuable working, tax-paying member of society I have set my calling on supporting leaders, at any age and stage. With my husband and children, I am not just a wife or a mom, or even, brah! Yes, I have teenagers.

I never really knew I wanted to be a keynote speaker or PD trainer, but my passion for education and leadership has driven me to the place where my experiences, my passions, and my calling have all intersected. I’ve been speaking and training for a number of years now. I’ve written more books than I could have ever dreamt, but a written letter like this is a moment where decades of hard work, hours of selfless recess duty, and stages upon stages of speaking have brought what I think is the greatest affirmation that my work, to this point, was not in vain. It was on purpose.

We all have experienced life through a different lens lately, though the circumstances are all very similar… we are tired, we are weary, and we cannot at times think we can climb the next hill in our journey ahead of us… but let me say… these letters, these affirmations are not by accident but for a purpose. You too can climb the next hill, show up the next day to school, call that next dreaded staff meeting, sit with the next angry parents… and know that the reason we are here is our calling and that is to keep going, give all of ourselves to our passions and lead a life with a “next hill’ mentality. You are all amazing educators and I believe that every one of you can distinguish the difference between your title and your calling…. Let’s make education a place where lives are not just changed, but enhanced and reinforced for the challenges that we will all face tomorrow.

As for today, we celebrate and enjoy the gifts we have, which is the Now.

So during this messy middle of the year, what can you celebrate in the midst of your circumstances?

Live Well and Lead Well,

Jessica

Thank you David Erickson for capturing this moment in Charlotte!

https://davidericksonphotos.smugmug.com/browse