Path Chosen - June 11, 2022

Saturdays seem like a great time to write about paths chosen. Considering I’m spending this one watching my kiddo play lacrosse and surrounded by a bunch 12-year-old boys, I’ll start at the beginning.

Way, way back, I graduated college and my career began as a high school history teacher and wrestling coach. While teaching and coaching remain core to who I am, and both still define how I approach leadership, as a 22-year-old teaching 16-year-old kids, it was far from smooth sailing. Covering cities in Southeast Asia, we came to Thailand and the city of Phuket. For the record, you pronounce it as “poo-ket”. With teenagers? The “Ph” sounds like a “F” and you get the picture …

Funny and inappropriate (which is why I included it on all of my tests from that point forward).

The lesson here?

Have a little fun and don’t take everything so seriously. Getting my students to laugh out loud in class was worth it. I’m willing to bet it helped with remembering a certain city in Thailand as well.

Have a wonderful weekend. Smile and say, “Hi” to a stranger today.