Water the what?

I spent the last week in class. Rumor had it that it would be one of those hold hands, hug a tree, sing kumbya type classes. One person who'd taken the course described it as a "climb a rope, pat each other on the back, bring world peace type B.S. classes"...yikes...what was I in for?

I went to class, somewhat reluctantly and spent Sunday afternoon awaiting some kind of "bomb" on what the week's activities would entail. Nothing. Everything seemed in order and that it would be another typical run-of-the-mill continuing education class.

What I would learn over the course of the next three days turned out to be more of a therapeutic awakening, rather than a graduate level course on adaptive leadership.

Just released from my job as an elementary principal due to budgetary shortfall, I was left reeling as to what I was going to do next or where I was going to go. The field of education continued to bear the burden of federal and state budget reductions. At just 28 years old, I was feeling like I'd spent the last eight years of my life pouring myself into something that while productive and positive wasn't all that personally rewarding. Night after night, I sat in my newborn's room rocking him, staring into the darkness, crying and wondering, why am I doing this? I got up every morning with a knot in my stomach and the sense of dread overcoming my body. For what? I kept saying I hated my job, but that seems now like just a bunch of lip service...after all, I kept doing it!

Back in class, we were learning about shifting our actions to meet the demands of the situations bestowed up on us. For most of my other peers, this was related to their endeavors as building administrators, ESD personnel, lead teachers and the like. For myself and an old friend, also in class, it was about our newfound positions of "unemployed".

The day after class finished, a friend of mine (who had also been through a career change earlier in his life) shared with me a copy of the book "Water the Bamboo". The book is a step by step manual for moving to action on a personal and team level. Based on the idea that when giant timber bamboo grows, it will rocket up an astonishing 90 feet in only 60 days, but not until at least three years of watering.

This blog will take you on my journey of watering the bamboo - through adaptive leadership tactics, my personal feats and failures, the emotional rollercoaster of considering a career shift and the learning I attain along the way. Hang on...it's going to be a ride!