4 Years On.... Blogging to "calm the snowflakes"

This is the 163rd blog post since I started the website "The Path Forward" on August 1st, 2016. It was an idea that was planted in my head by a former colleague who shared with me the benefit of blogging as a means of purposeful reflection. I really didn't think much off it on that day on the balcony of our house in Accra, Ghana. I just sat down with my laptop and started typing and nearly four years later the process has never really changed. The practice of blogging each week has provided me with many benefits that I had never contemplated when i published my first post entitled "Direction, Passion, Perseverance, and Support.... the keys to moving forward"

I know that I am at my best when I give myself some time and space to get my mind still and allow things to settle, much like the little specs of plastic in a snow globe. In the midst of a busy day or week I can have a multitude of objects (both personal and professional) that are floating around in my head space. Creating some dedicated reflection time has allowed me to let those little "specks" settle which in turn makes it easier for me to identify solutions or approaches to these daily challenges. These Saturday morning blog posts have created a calming influence and allowed me to get quiet in my thoughts. This simple process of being quiet and alone in front of a keyboard has provided me with a great deal of clarity and solace.

I have blogged about a variety of topics over the course of the last four years... some of them directed to my boys ("Advice to my sons… just in case they are still listening"), some were reflections about people who have impacted my life ("The Influence of a "Common Man"), some were influenced by students in schools ("Youth Sports... What's Really Important?") and others were during times of personal challenge ("The essentials of being a "constant" in the lives of others"). The topics have no real pattern and the the subjects have been less important than the benefit this purposeful reflection has provided me in keeping balance in my life. My life since moving abroad 13 years ago is much different in terms of the pace and timing. Prior to moving abroad it was much easier to have a clear division between yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Living 10 hours apart from family members as I do now means that my day begins and ends twice every single day and the multitude of personal and professional challenges rarely come in any predictable pattern. The commitment to purposeful reflection has provided me great benefit in managing this multitude of challenges by allowing me to "switch off" for a short period of time, allowing me to see things with a fresh perspective.

In a few days I will complete my 32nd year in education and you would think after that length of time that I would have clarity on where I will be in the days, weeks, and years to come, but I don't. I have lived my life in a different direction than most. I don't have the clarity and predictability that other people probably have after this long of a career. Without a clear "road map", I do know that I will continue to find time on Saturday mornings to be still in my thoughts, let the "snowflakes" settle, and tap away on my keyboard as I seek to chart my "path forward".

Be safe... be healthy... and be well.

====================================================================== “There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord"

-Thomas Paine