I told you the next blog would be another song title! This Beyonce song has become another anthem for me over the years. When I am psyching myself up for something, I play this song. When I want to feel like a bad ass female…I play this song! It reminds me that I can do anything I put my mind to and that when I want something I should go for it! What’s funny is how often this song comes on randomly for me too. I can be at the gym and listening to a playlist of hundreds of songs and it will often come on at the end of my workout (more than any other song)! But, that’s not the point of today’s post. Today is all about my exciting job news for next year. But, it means I’m going to jump ahead almost a whole year on my life coaching path. Not because it was easy or not worth the time (as it wasn’t easy, and is definitely worth the words), but I want to share something else and I need to skip ahead to get there.
What I want to share about is something I manifested. When I first met with my life coach back in December of 2021, one of the things I told her I wanted was to work part-time or as I said it “work 4 days a week”. I used to joke with people all the time “I just need a Wednesday principal”, meaning someone who could work for me every Wednesday so I had that day off. My thought was if I had one day off a week, then my life would be easier because I could get everything done that I couldn’t get done on the weekends. My life would then slow down a little. Obviously, this was a dream and something I didn’t even imagine could ever be a reality.
However, in November 2022, my boss and I were talking about next school year because my job would need to entail a little more duties since my school growth will be stagnant. This is because we’ve quickly outgrown the space at my small school and need to wait for our new building to be built (about 1.5 years out). Since my school is not new anymore and I’ve now got it up and running, I’m now expected to be able to add some more duties to my workload. But, I didn’t want to add more duties. Every time I thought of it, I would cringe. It’s not that I don’t like my district or am scared of hard work. It’s just that I’d been working for a year with my life coach on how to say “no” and how to make a better life for myself. And you know what? I didn’t want to take on more work. I feel like a toddler saying this, but I just didn’t want to do it.
Around this same time I was working with my doctor and going through some medical testing as I had been having migraines regularly for over a year. In addition, I’d recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and my blood sugar was borderline high. This all honestly scared the crud out of me! My stress levels have been high and my weight had crept up steadily every year since I’ve become a principal. I believe whole-heartedly that my career was the root cause of my medical issues. This was even more reason that I did not want to add more work to my plate. I knew that now was the time to get a handle on my medical issues and get my health in a good place before I get any older.
So what is a principal to do? What is a bad ass female to do when faced with this type of situation? Well, I’ll tell you what I did. I decided that instead of taking the extra workload, I would ask to work part-time for next school year. This would get me to the time when my new building would be completed or almost completed and my school could add new students. As every other district in the state is facing a budget crisis right now, mine is too. This means I was in a very fortunate position where my request to work part-time next year was granted! So there you have it…my exciting news! I manifested my dream! I will be working a .70fte next year. I am beyond thrilled. My school, students, and staff will not suffer at all as many of my extra days off will be in summer or on days that don’t affect them. Being a family school, they are all really supportive and happy for me!
This will only be for one year. I will return to full time the year after. But, that is just fine! My school’s new building will be complete or almost complete by that point, so my job will be ready to move back to full-time work. Also, my youngest daughter will be a senior this school year and I will be able to work part-time during her senior year. How many parents get that opportunity? Answer: not many! I am so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and I recognize that and am beyond grateful!
The moral of this post…you can manifest your dreams! You just have to watch and listen for the right moments. In the past, I honestly don’t think I would’ve paid attention to this moment to make it happen. I may have let it walk right past me. But not this time! This bad ass female is running her own world now!
Running my own world,
Stephanie Hollinger
The Positive Principal
The Positive Principal 