Touching a Life ....
The answer is yes I am the same Katie Ann that wrote that blog. I had started that blog in 2008 to share ed-tech tips and tricks with some fellow teachers. I was having health issues later in 2010 and started to pull away from people. When you start going down that dark path you start to listen to the negative people around you, and that is exactly what I did. I had several people that I saw face to face tell me over and over that there was no reason for me to write a blog, that no one would ever ready it, and I wasn't making any difference. I needed to be in the real world. So I listened to them and I totally cut myself off from everyone.
Who was I to think I could make a difference? Who was I to think anyone would ever listen to me? Those questions just kept flowing through my mind the deeper I went down that rabbit hole. So I deleted my blog, stopped sharing, and just stopped trying. It wasn't until my sons came to me almost 2 years later, sat me down and started to use my own words against me. I had taught both of them in my classroom and they have seen me teach other teachers, so they knew me as both a teacher and their mom. When they looked at me and told me that I needed to find my passion and to follow it even if others don't like it, I just need to do it. There are billions of people in this world and there will be a few that just don't care for you and that is OK. There are tens time that many people that think you are amazing. It is OK to be different. It is OK to go against what is popular. You need to do what is right for you not what is right for them. Follow your dream and just be you. It will be hard, but you can do it.
I don't think I ever cried as hard as I did that day, which I did in private. I looked at them and all I could say was did you just used my words against me. Their response was maybe, we heard it from somewhere and thought the person who said it was pretty smart. Both of my sons helped me come up with a name for my new blog. They heard people call me the Techie Chick most of their lives so they thought that should be my nickname. So the Diary of the Techie Chick was born.
In Kansas there are very few conferences to attend so my husband encouraged me to look outside of Kansas, so I did. I started submitting presentations proposals at ed-tech conference I could find and load and be hold they were being accepted. Which then came the big issue, the cost to travel to these conferences. When you are just a teacher in Kansas or anywhere you really don't get paid a lot and schools really do not have the funds to send you money becomes an issue. My husband decided that I needed to go, I needed to present, I needed to follow my passion so he sent me. He calls it an investment into our future. When I am working with teachers he tells me I just light up and I become me.
Now when those question start to pop in my head who am I to think I can make a difference, who listens to me. I look at my kids and remind myself I've already made a difference and have already touched their lives. I see it in their eyes, feel it in their love, that someone truly listens to me and I do make a difference each and everyday. My blog, my presentations, and my sharing is spill over from showing my kids that following your passion no matter if it isn't popular is what you need to do. Doing what is right for you may not be what is right for someone else, they may say negative things, and they put you down. But it is OK to be you and to follow your passion. Where there is a negative person trying to put you down there are a dozen others that think you are amazing and I am one of them.
On my NotAtISTE badge I added a ribbon that says "Follow Me I am Lost Too". Which I added as an inside joke and which actually happened in Atalanta. People were following me in hopes I could lead them to a session or two. Who knew while I was lost I would find my own path. I encourage you no matter what your passion is follow it. Make your own path and find your own way. Even if there is someone negative in your life don't listen to the negative, because when there is one person that is negative there are a dozen others that think you are amazing. I am one of those that think you are amazing!
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