All posts by Be Enough

author, blogger, Family, friendship, musings, radical sabbatical, time, Wordsmith

Be Having No Time

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I don’t have time to talk about you because if you are an important person in my life I am talking TO you.

I don’t have time to worry about if you have lost or gained weight, I am 100% focused on my own health.

I don’t have time to ponder what you are doing with your life, but I am praying that you would have a life filled with love, joy and peace.

I don’t have time to wonder why you left my life and want nothing to do with me as I am completely enveloped with love by the people who choose to spend time with me.

I don’t have any time to think about who you love or want to marry, I am focused on making my own relationships better.

I don’t have time to wonder why my family of origin has fallen far apart since my mom died. The rich relationships that have filled this Grand Canyon gap from my mom’s death and the ‘chosen family’ who shower us with encouragement are greater than any gift I could imagine.

I don’t have time to judge what you do with your money, your time or your relationships because God is showing me all the good He is doing through knowing you.

I don’t have time. I don’t believe in busy. I don’t believe in missing anyone.

I create time.

Busy is a swear word.

If I miss you, I reach out to you. The only people I miss are dead. They definitely don’t have any time.

Make time for what’s important to you folks.

Have an epic Monday and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

author, blogger, Communication, Flexibility, Goals, health & fitness, life, men, mindset, musings, time, Wordsmith, writing

Be Getting The People You Work With Out of the Bedroom

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Paint a picture in your mind of every single person you know connected to you through a rectangular gadget. Yes, that gadget that you are probably holding in your hand right now. Picture every human being that is attached to you in some way through your phone.

Intertwined.

Emotionally and spiritually connected.

Through a rectangular gadget.

Our phones.

Let’s great really specific and think about that smelly, high-pitched laugh colleague at work that you may not love that is affixed to you through your work email.

Visualize taking that person with you into bed or even sitting beside you on your night table via your phone. Do you see them?

Picture every single one of your Facebook friends’ faces staring at you as you lie in bed.

Envision every person in your contacts list wanting to connect with you about their stuff, their feelings and their lives as you lie your head down on your pillow at night.

Imagine all those people’s hands reaching out to touch you as you fall asleep.

Feeling overwhelmed with all these “connections” and faces staring at you?

NOW GET THAT PHONE OUT OF YOUR BEDROOM!

Get a good old fashioned plug-in the wall alarm clock.

Charge your phone in the bathroom.

Better yet, charge it in the kitchen or the hallway.

Just leave all those people, those tethers and those beeping and booping noises from that rectangular gadget out of your bedroom.

Because Sexy Neck works with partners all over the world, his phone used to light up like a Christmas tree all hours of the night and wake me up multiple times as the emails, texts and WhatsApp messages came in.

We have been charging our phones in the bathrooms for the last month and guess what, we haven’t missed a single thing.

Not one single thing!

I am so grateful for this new habit and I am never going to bring the outside world into the bedroom again.

Be free.

Be really free.

Let me know if you decide to give this try.

Sleep well my friends and love what you do!

xoxo Joanna

author, blogger, Boys, Business, dreams, Education, encouragement, fun, Goals, homeschooling, love, mom of boys, Teaching, Wordsmith

Be Finding Your Dream Job (A letter to my boys)

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To my Blue Crew,

I want to write this letter to each of you after a few years of working in my “dream job” as an online teacher as I know you have watched what has unfolded for me as a mom and teacher.

Right now you want to be a movie producer, a truck driver/inventor and a RCMP Member or Conservation Officer in the K9 unit. I am so excited to see what unfolds for you hardworking, heartfelt human beings.

My dream job involves working with and inspiring other human beings, particularly young people starting with EACH of you three boys. From teaching my first amazing job in Cherryville to teaching in Switzerland to working in the online system, my career journey has been an interesting one. How did I find all my dream jobs for each season of my life?

First and foremost, I wanted to find a job that I could work around you and daddy’s schedule. Someone had to “hold down the fort”.

Second, I wanted to work within my passions of learning and growth.

Lastly, I wanted to ensure that the exchange for my time, which is our greatest currency, was in balance with the money that the job was going to pay me.

Family first.

Life long learner.

Time for money.

What will be important for your dream job? The clearer you are, the quicker the job will come. It was only after you were born and I stepped away from the education system that my journey towards my dream job began.

Family first.

Life long learner.

Time for money.

As with any dream job, there is always, always some friction involved. The friction or “emotional heat” can be caused by a colleague that you work with, by one task that you don’t particularly like or even how your mind can’t settle down after your work day ends. For every job the friction created is different and you will have to make a conscious decision if these “rubs” are worth it to pursue and go after your dream job.

Go boys.

Find your dream job.

Be aware of the friction.

And have as MUCH FUN as I am in my job.

God bless everyone that reads this blog post and especially bless our growing boys: 15, 13 and 11 year old young men.

Have an epic Wednesday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

Boys, career, radical sabbatical, Teaching, Wordsmith

Be Changing Your Career in an Exorbitant Way

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Hi Mom’s and Dad’s that have chosen to give up or change their careers because a wee one came into your life, I am sitting with you as I write this. Grab a cup of tea and strap yourselves in… I have a major wondering today.

Do you ever have a sense that your career changed in an exorbitant way because of your wee ones arrival on earth?

I have been thinking about my time on earth and my career a lot lately as I continue working through the gift of grief that my mom gave me in 2013. Yup, almost 10 years since that fateful day that our Super Nana died and I began my personal journey experiencing the finality of death.

With incredible clarity, I took leave from my career when our oldest came into the world almost sixteen years ago. I was a teacher, coach, volunteer and an advocate of campus education, but when that blonde haired boy with that straight edge part and blue eyes came into the world, my life pivoted and my career path changed forever. I never stepped back into a campus classroom full time and I have never wanted to. I am proud of the fact that I could help keep things simple in our family’s life by being the person “on the home front”. I never wanted someone else to raise my children or see their “firsts” or major milestones. I wanted to be the person to spend the most amount of time each day with them. We are only give twenty-four hours in each day. Those first few years on one income as we added wee one #2 and #3 were years of focus and frugalness, but our family never did without. We went down to one car, bought a home with a suite, took in international students, cut cable and reduced our expenses, by as much as possible, through figuring out what our needs versus wants were.

As the kids grew older, I took forays into selling Hawaiian Green tea directly to customers, ventured into Referral Marketing of health products, worked as an online teacher at a Vancouver-based school and even worked in my dream job as a part time Physical Education Teacher at an elementary school. This is what I wanted to share about today and is the reason I decided to write this blog post . This P.E. teaching job was absolutely perfect for me. I worked a half day Monday and full days Tuesday and Wednesday. I had the gym doors open every single day at lunch for the students. I felt that I could be creative in the physical literacies that I taught and truly impact the school as a whole in terms of health and wellness. I had personal time to train for and race small triathlons on the weekends. PLUS, I could be there for my own blue crew on the four days I wasn’t working as well as not work momentously long days doing prep for my teaching job. BUT, the boys didn’t enjoy getting themselves to and from their own campus school in grades 1, 3 and 5. They began fighting a lot and being unkind to each other on a level that reminded me of growing up when my mom went back to teaching when I was in grade 1. My dream job was no longer my dream job as I left to work with upset kids at 7:45am or came home to chaos at 4:00pm. Due to my family of origin and sibling experience, I have a very low tolerance for my boys treating each other like a-holes just because they are related. The dream career came to a clear closure.

I changed my career in an exorbitant manner yet again. I said no to a returning contract as a Physical Education teacher and came back home full time for the next few years. During 2020, I was drawn back to work as an online teacher again at a new K-city based private school, which I love, but isn’t without some friction within my family.

During this winter season, I have often wondered, what would I be doing if I hadn’t changed my career in such drastic ways. What would my days look like? Where would we be living? Who would I be surrounded by? I am not sure if any other mom’s or dad’s can relate, but I sometimes wonder if I have given up too much. This life I lead working from home is often lonely, isolated and takes a lot of personal motivation/momentum as I don’t walk the halls or share daily energy with any colleagues anymore. I have always had big dreams, an ever growing thought life and a vision of making a major, positive impact on the world around me. By keeping my vision narrow and focused on my family, perhaps I have lost the bigger picture of my life.

Career change

On top of more career change.

With three children.

Narrow focus.

Big picture.

Exorbitant.

Or not?

I am not sure.

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

radical sabbatical

Be Sharing the Different Between Grade 9 and 10 in British Columbia in the Online Learning World

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Hi! It’s Joanna with her teacher’s hat on again today.

I have been talking to a plethora, well more than a handful, of people about what happens when a student transitions from grade 9 into grade 10 in British Columbia, specially in the Online Learning world. As an Online Learning teacher, I work with “enrolled” families with students between kindergarten and grade 9. (“Registered” homeschoolers in Canada, don’t work with a teacher, but can still move into the Grad program in Grade 10). Once you move into Grade 10, you are enter into the fantastic world of the Grad Program. This is when education gets seriously exhilarating. Not only do you have the freedom from the Kindergarten through grade 9 program, but you have expert teachers in their subject area with courses designed to help students be inspired to learn about that topic. But wait, it gets even better.

In British Columbia, “enrolled” students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 are funded per student (@$7,000+ per year), but once a student hits grade 10, they are funded per course. This is so exciting for me to ponder with my families as we can now truly create the flexibility that your student is looking for.

Currently, our grade 10 son takes 2 courses at the local high school (AP Science and Animation/Robotics) and 2 courses online at home with me (English and P.E.). You can search out the best courses and the best teachers and take them online or in person (if you want to move cities) from any public or independent school in the huge province of British Columbia.

A few years ago, early on in our own home learning journey, I met the most inspiring mom of four beautiful young human beings. She had spent time talking, researching and then applying to get into multiple courses in multiple schools around the province. It created the richest and most diverse learning opportunity for her kiddos that I have personally ever seen.

In the online world, a teacher or course that is “less than stellar” doesn’t last because guess what, no one will sign up for it. It’s amazing to watch the best courses and teachers rise to the top for our online learning students to be able to choose from. YAHOOO!

Today, let me encourage you that once your student hits grade 10, there truly is flexibility for them to design their life and their learning. Do you want to work? Go for it! Want to play the piano 5 hours a day? Clank, clink, kaboom! Do you want to do a deep dive into the media arts and work with the best teachers/mentors located in Vanderhoof, BC? Anything is possible!

And that’s all from me today folks. Thanks for hanging out for my little teachers talk about things that absolutely fire me up: Students’ finding and following their passions with the BEST teachers and courses we can offer in British Columbia. Seek and you will find!

Have an epic Wednesday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

author

Be a Canadian Who Complains + Creates Change

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Anyone here ever volunteered to be on a board or sit as an executive for an organization? ☝🏻

If you have, you are going to resonate with the words I write. 👋🏻

If you haven’t, imagine a group of people drawn to an organization for altruistic or personal reasons. Imagine a place where you are trying to keep an organization going or move it forward in some way. And each person might have their own way!

I have been fortunate to serve on two distinct and diverse boards the last few years. One with strong leadership and one that blows in the wind (Ha, another wind comment!).  It’s been a great opportunity for me to use my gifts of organization, listening and help bring people together. I have loved 95% of it.

The 5% that I haven’t loved is my wish for 2023.

“If you are going to complain about how someone is volunteering or what’s happening in a volunteer organization, make suggestions for change and PERSONALLY volunteer to be part of the change!”

I have read emails, often lengthy emails, and heard complaints about very interesting things in the world of volunteering. The deliverer of the complaint rarely wants to do anything about their complaint and this baffles me.

I recently wrote a letter to a board with a complaint, yes, I complain too. But with my complaint came suggestions for change that I would be invested in as a volunteer. You make see me reading books at a Okanagan Regional Library Storytime soon.

My complaint came in the form of a children’s story time that was led by an entertainer that 95% of the time performs in bars, wineries and lounges.  I simply looked at the person’s resume, as I don’t know them personally. I learned that the process is that anyone in our community can sign-up to read to children. The library doesn’t look at the person’s resume or even ask for a criminal record check. After learning this, I offered to help the library find others in our community that can perform and inspire children.  Random fact: I discovered that the “adult entertainer” performing during the children’s library story time was a personal acquaintance of the marketing manager. As people in leadership know it is sometimes easier to “go with what we know”. I am going to help the library get to know some amazing people in the community that I know.

Complaint + time investment in change = movement forward

Complaint + nothing = resounding GONG!

Yup, a GONG! The complaints I have read and have heard have been nothing but a gong. I didn’t see any good come from them, nor did I see any change happening afterwards.

GONG!

For this one year, let’s all agree to celebrate with JOY and complain with ideas that include ACTION, not just a GONG that doesn’t go anywhere!

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

friendship, fun, radical sabbatical, words, Wordsmith, writing

Be a Great Pyrenees (Post about Friendships)

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As a dog, I would previously have been seen as a fluffy, golden retriever.

I love human beings and can talk to anyone, anywhere. I have made friends after a 4 hour plane trip and even made a lifelong friend in a checkout line in Nashville. She complimented me on my shoes. We stayed in contact and then I ended up finding her the same pair of shoes and sent them to her.

My boys often ask me to stop “chitty chatting”!

I might be weird as I will talk to anyone, but I won’t be someone’s friend just because our kids do the same activities , our kids are the same age, we teach in the same profession or we live on the same street.

I love every ONE, but my friends are people who are authentic, straightforward, family-oriented and passionate.

These last three years as I grew through deep loneliness and even discrimination as I wouldn’t share or talk about the greatest science experiment our generation has gone through. My golden retriever spirit died. I have happily morphed into the ever-watching guardian dog, the Great Pyrenees.

I still see you, but I am not going to chase you to hangout with you.

Watching.

Looking for what will happen next, but not engaging.

Watching.

Waiting to see who will “see” me back.

Watching.

I have gotten more mellow, more calm and more still.

Moving from an every chasing Golden Retriever to a watchful Great Pyrenees shifts things up in the friendship realm and many of my friendships fell away in the last three years.

I guess when you are doing a lot of chasing, you can think you have lots of friends, but it is truly the friends that will stand with you in the calm and the storms as a Great Pyrenees that are here to stay.

Thank you to my salt of the earth friends from the past and those to come in the future. I love you and I send you a big virtual lick!

Have an epic Friday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

radical sabbatical

Be Grinding It Out

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With the inundation of the outside world into our regular lives through social media, I want to remind everyone reading this today that “Grinding It Out” is divine work.

We don’t need to sell our homes and fly off to some beachside destination.

Unless, we want to.

We don’t need to be shopping and buying the latest iPhone or shirt from the new Adidas store on 4th Avenue.

Unless, we want to.

We don’t need to get a new man/woman to be fulfilled or happy.

Unless, we want to.

We get to wash dishes, listen to our children talk about cars for the 1, 378th time and tell a bedtime story to keep away the nightmares.

Yes, we get to “grind it out”.

We get to drive hours in our cars back and forth to drop off, pick-up, make dinner all while your husband sits beside a pool in Bangkok, Thailand drinking lemon water.

Yes, we get to.

We get to do laundry, load the dishwasher, scrub the toilet, wipe down the light switches, vacuum moldings all while refeereeing fighting matches involving nerf guns and sponge swords.

Yes, we get to.

The grind is for real. It can be a grind, if we don’t see all of these things as a privilege.

Actually, the definition of grind according to Oxford is “hard, dull work”. As I write these words, I am actually not sure we can call it a grind anymore compared to decades ago. Maybe I need to call this post be: “Be Organizing Electrical Devices to Grind It Out.”

Oh where our minds go late at night.

I love you.

Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.

Xoxo Joanna