Out of the blue I received a whatsapp message from my colleague asking for my trainer’s number and to help her. She had reached her breaking point and couldn’t take how she looked anymore. While she was talking I dozed off and remembered myself 3 years ago. I remember feeling exactly how she felt. When someone asks for my trainer’s number I reply back by saying, “Are you sure?”, “Are you committed?”, “He doesn’t like it when you say yes and then cancel last minute, he is strict.” They either nod their heads or say, “yes yes of course.” So when she asked for his number I said ok, but I didn’t give it to her on the spot. A few days later she called my office phone and said, “Dana send me the number please!” I went quiet and said, “Oh wow, so you are serious?” Her reply was, “Yes, of course I am. I need him and need to change my lifestyle.” I felt she was desperate so I then sent her his number. That night he came to train me and so while he was there they chose the days and timings.
Category: Home
A Manager vs. A leader
My dear colleague yet again came to my rescue. He gave me an interesting article to read. It wa
s all about a manager and a leader and the differences between the two and the characteristics of each one. He handed it to me and told me to read it and then we would discuss it and that he would like to hear my feedback. I didn’t understand why he wanted me to do that but I went ahead and read it while I was doing my physiotherapy session.
Do things ever calm down?!
Our days are getting crazier by the second. My to do list is getting longer and longer. There is not enough minutes in the day to get everything done. Not when you have meetings, parent meetings, staff to check in on, students problems to solve and the list goes on and on. I am sure many of you in an admin role can relate and understand what we go through. I have schedules I need to work on for next year but I can’t seem to get around to it. We had to edit reports cards last week which was about 603 pages. We had parent conferences this week and so many issues took place in between. On top of all of that, my daughter was sick with a high fever which meant many sleepless nights but managed to pull through. How? It’s beyond me. I honestly think we are robots at times and not human. Despite all of that, we get through it and get the things that need to get done. We are there for our staff, students and parents. Is it tiring ? YES. Exhausting? YES. Worth it? YES.
“Paint Your Own Picture!”
A dear colleague of mine and I were chit chatting about a certain situation. Mid conversation he said to me, “Dana, paint your own picture to each individual you speak to, do not let them paint their own picture of you. You have made your point and taken that stand.” I stared at him for a moment and his sentence has been stuck in my head ever since we last spoke. That comment was so powerful and true! He gave me a few examples and it all made sense and clicked in my head. It amazes me how 1 sentence can change the situation all around. It makes more sense when people say, “you are not fine?” or “Why aren’t you smiling/Where is that smile?” or “I can never imagine you so mad or angry.”
February = Body Reset!
February comes and my body decides to shut down every year for some bizarre reason. I have known my trainer for three years and according to him every February my body shuts down and I need to reset everything. I had never realized it before. Every February something happens and it’s always to do with my back and sciatic nerve. Why? I have no idea but it is frustrating. My disc always acts up as well. I see my orthopedic once a year and noticed that as well. I always need to do an x-ray to see, then I start physiotherapy and during my workout sessions I focus more on stretching.
Coaching for the 1st time as an AP
A few days ago, I saw one of my staff members snap at another teacher without knowing. I thought to myself she might be having a bad day. A few days after that she did it again to another teacher without realizing once again. I thought wait, I need to tell her. If she’s moving up into a leadership position then she can not be like this at all. I don’t want people not liking her from day one. So I thought to myself tomorrow, I will speak to her off the record and as a friend. I knew wording it would be hard and I didn’t want her to get upset nor take it the wrong way.
My 1st Big Event!
We had our National/Liberation day coming up and being a proud Kuwaiti, I wanted to make the day more exciting in ES. I wanted to have a day of activities and not just a parade like we’ve had in the past. My goal was to bring back the spirit. The KG AP and myself came up with a plan. For this day to happen we needed to have a committee. We knew that there was no way we could have pulled it off by ourselves as we simply didn’t have the time. After we planned everything out I sent out an email to staff asking if anyone was interested in joining us. I honestly didn’t expect many staff to volunteer but a couple of them said, “When we read your name we knew it would be an organized event and you are fun to work with. That’s why we wanted to join.” That comment put the biggest smile on my face.
Guidlines to follow from my Dr.
Three minutes later I received the text from Dr. Lemia.
1) No screen time at least 1 hour before bed. It can’t get easier than that. You would think so BUT in today’s world it’s actually not as easy as I thought. Yes, I normally take my phone to bed and let it charge by my side. Usually whenever I wake up for anything during the night I tend to grab it and check my msgs. I never reply back in the middle of the night but I would definitely read them. Then it would take me forever to go back to sleep. I am now leaving both phones in the sitting rooms at night. I am now on day 4 of no phones in the bedroom and WOW! What a difference it made in my sleeping habits. I am actually sleeping well. If I wake up for my kids then I’m going back to sleep quicker than usual.
My latest Dr’s. Visit
On Wednesday night I went to see Dr. Lemia. Three years ago I used to go to see her every 2 to 3 weeks. Now I see her once a year. The last time I was there was January 2017. I couldn’t believe how time just flew by to be honest. Last January I weighed 76 kg and now I am 66kg. I was in shock and she had a smile on her face.
Budgets & Orders
It’s that time of year where we ask our staff to place their orders for next year. We extended their deadline one extra day. The deadline day was here! Did I do my AP order for next year? No. Did I have time to sit with the KG AP and discuss what we need to order? No. Do I know how much I have as an AP to order? No. Did my excel/link work from office 365 NO. Yes, I made sure all my staff questions were all asked before I sat down to do my own order. The staff left for the weekend and I sat down for 3.5 hours straight and completed my order. The deadline was met!