With just 22 days till go time, the emotional side of preparing to leave my family and my job is a constant rub. I’ll share with anybody that I see a social worker every month or so for a precious 50 minutes. It’s one slot during the month that’s all about me. Well sort of. Because me really is how I relate and interact with others. It’s a chance to talk about those relationships; how to sustain and cultivate the good ones, and how to diminish and minimize the destructive ones. It’s not mamby pamby stuff. It’s about being a good human being in search of continual improvement. 

The next five months are all going to be inside my head. Resetting my head is a big part of why I need this journey. I’m tapped out. The last six years as a superintendent/principal with some side gigs doing anything else imaginable within a small school district has left me physically and mentally exhausted. I’m constantly in a survival mode these days. Allostatic overload. I need a break to steady out my head.  

Therapy has helped prepare me as much as possible to work with my wife, Michelle, as together we take on this event of me voluntarily going away. She’s giving me a gift, so I can come back stronger with my brain reset. That’s love. That’s the strength of our love.