One of the things that I love about having a WordPress blog is that I can look at all these numbers. I can see views and likes and comments and all sorts of data that really has nothing to do with my job. What day of the week is my blog most viewed? Wednesdays, which doesn’t surprise me because I am part of the Slice of Life Challenge, a group of teacher writers who come together on Tuesdays to write and comment. My blog is usually done fairly late at night, so that makes sense. What time is it most viewed? 11:00 PM. Again, it makes sense as I’m getting my blogs up a little later than I’d want. One blog had over 800 views in a day (writing about Iowa politics), and some have had only 1 view (but it did get viewed!).

The point is, I’ve had this blog up for nine years. Nine years!! So many things have changed in 9 years. I recently took a mindfulness class called Elevate which has helped to focus me and allow me to start seeing the possibilities out there. How I got here: the Washed Up Walkons and Frank Garza. Frank, father of current Iowa basketball star Luka Garza, has been on the Walkons podcast (3 former Iowa football players talking about football, not always work safe, but a great listen!) a couple of times and just dropped some healthy knowledge about our minds and how we can take control back from the loop of life we are in. Frank offered a special for Walkon listeners, and suddenly, I’m in a class with other teachers, business people, and am learning a TON about my own mind. One of the activities we did was to ask some tough questions of our loved ones, one them being “what would my best life look like”.

My brother and co-worker both said something to the fact that I seem joyful and at ease when I’m coaching (which is true), so both said that was part of my best life. That got me thinking, if I could go back and do it over, would I be a teacher? The answer, probably, with changes. I love teaching and cannot imagine not doing this job. But I love coaching as well. Way back in the day, when I did my coaching practicum at Winona State University (Go Warriors), I was put in a football program because back then, I really wanted to be a high school social studies teacher and coach football. I loved the practicum, but it never felt quite like me. My teaching goals had all ready changed because I was placed in an elementary classroom and fell in love with the energy of the students, but the coaching was still here. Then, my first teaching job in Alaska was a varsity girls coaching position and I was hooked on hoops.

What would I change, I would continue with the varsity positions, looking for a way into the college ranks. I know why I kept myself in the middle school: family. Being a coach’s wife, even in middle school, was not easy for my honorary assistant coach. Early morning practices, late nights with school basketball, and a bunch of Saturdays for club ball tend to wear on a person. I was offered the varsity position at our school many moons again, but I knew that it just wasn’t the right fit for the dad and husband I wanted to be.

If I wasn’t a teacher, my other dream job, radio. I’d love to be on the radio as a broadcaster, calling games, talking all kinds of of sports or news. Why didn’t I? During high school speech, I loved the radio broadcasting competition, figuring out a news program, then reading it. That was great. I’m not sure why it never clicked as a career other than I just wanted to be a teacher more.

Either way, the answers to that “best life” question was a great exercise in placing some “what ifs” into perspective. However, sometimes, the best life is the one you have in front of you, so I’ll coach 8th graders, love my family, and practice calling basketball games in my head.

My face for radio will just have to wait! 🙂

A special thank you to the Washed Up Walkons Podcast and Frank Garza for the putting out the awesome content that lead to my taking part in the Elevate class, giving me more insight into my life and the power of my mind! 🙂