#156

I note that of my eight aspirations from my January 2020 Reflections and Intentions, six have been fulfilled:

• To expand my repertoire of skills pertaining to Admissions, Leadership and more through day to day practice, reading, formal and informal Professional Development opportunities. ✔️

• To launch OpenApply (Blogpost: OpenApply (January 2020) and referenced in Admissions in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic [Part II] (October 2020) ✔️

• To continue to engage in opportunities for professional growth ✔️; However, as to the list of texts I intended to read, I read just three of them. ❌

• To start planning for the 2021/2022 school year and beyond.✔️

• To continue to blog and share (on a weekly basis) my thoughts pertaining to Admissions, Leadership, Learning Differently, School Culture, Social Justice, Third Culture Kids (TCK) and more. ✔️

• To write and submit entries to various publications. ❌

• To strive to have balance in my life. ✔️

In terms of submissions to educational magazines and reading those texts on my to read list, I failed - as is evident by the red crosses - miserably. I do, however, give myself grace as this has - without a doubt - been a most unusual year and one in which change, agility and resilience have been at the fore.

Thus, this seems a good time to highlight some blog posts from the last year:

• Admissions: Admissions in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic [Part III] (December 2020), Admissions and The FISH! Philosophy (February 2020)

• Leadership: The Secret of Change (July 2020), Inspirational Leadership (September 2020), Pearls of Wisdom (July 2020)

• Learning Differently: Becca's Cards and the power of language (October 2018)

• School Culture: 2020/2021 School Year (June 2020), Care and Connection (March 2020), Trust [Part II] (February 2020)

• Social Justice: The BLM has, without a doubt, been the biggest Social Justice movement this last year. Drawing on Rachel Cargle’s quote, "My equation for Black allyship is: knowledge + empathy + action", I have posted a series sharing pertinent links, quotes and more: Knowledge + Empathy + Action [Part III] (October 139), Knowledge + Empathy + Action [Part II] (August 2020), Knowledge + Empathy + Action [Part I] (June 2020) Each of these posts concluded with the following: “As we (within the school settings and on a personal/societal level) reflect on history, recent events and our roles as allies, how can we - with the view to making the world a better place for all - challenge the racial inequalities and discrimination that exist in the larger community?”

• Third Culture Kids (TCK): Diversity Quotes (August 2020), Cross Cultural Communication (April 2020)

• Wellbeing: World Mental Health Day (October 2020), Wellbeing, community and compassion (April 2020), In the smallest of moments (April 2020)

As noted in Silver Linings and Summer Reflections (July 2020), there have - despite the uncertainties - been many silver linings. With increased time for introspection during the initial lockdown in March and subsequent periods of restrictions as well as time to think ahead, I have been increasingly aware of the Japanese concept of Ikigai (noun: “One’s reason for being, which in principle is the convergence of one’s personal passions, beliefs, values, and vocation: those who follow the concept of ikigai undertake the activities of their life with willingness and a satisfying sense of meaning” per Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day definition) and best illustrated as such:

Image taken from Meyer’s How To Find Your Ikigai And Transform Your Outlook On Life And Business (Forbes 2018)

Mindful of Ikigai, what were - in looking back over 2020 - your greatest learning opportunities and in looking towards 2021 and beyond, to what do you aspire?

References:

• Brady, A. (2020) Blog

• Myers, C. (2018) How To Find Your Ikigai And Transform Your Outlook On Life And Business Forbes

• (2020) Word of the Day dictionary.com