Understanding the Overwhelming

It always happens this time of year. The school year is suddenly upon us, there is suddenly so much to do and we are all overwhelmed. Class sizes are bigger this year, as are the projects we are undertaking on stage. There are new rules for the fiscal reporting, the latest greatest educational tracking tools have been scrapped for the next latest greatest, our storage space has been delayed and our program has grown so fast, we don't have space for our classes. So I should feel horribly overwhelmed, right?

Well I could. But I don't, and as much as I consider myself a well adjusted individual I don't think it is simply my amazing coping skills that can take all the credit. What I believe is really changing the attitude and keeping the stress under control is real communication within our department and our school.

We started with two days of meetings. Like ya do, but these were not long drawn out useless meetings or RaRa meetings that non of us really need. We spent a few hours in the mornings getting together as a staff, getting updates on our students, welcoming our new staff and discussing the evolution of our school's goals and plans. Goals and plans that we have been a part of for two years. We took a really hard look at some data that shows us where we are failing our most vulnerable kids, but rather than feeling terrible about it, I came out with some real hope and genuine optimism for positive change. And that was because our administrator looked at us and said, "This is on me. This is completely my fault." And he didn't mean it was his fault because the buck stops with him, he meant he really was the one that made the decisions that effected these kids. Now, I do not believe we played no part, but his willingness to look at his entire staff and say that gave me confidence that we will, as a staff have the courage to face the really tough questions and solve the problems. And this group of admins knows it isn't an over night process. That is reassuring.

Then we talked as a theater department. We have such a great team. We have made a plan for these over stuffed classes that will hopefully give the students ownership of the theater and the space and their actions, but get the shows in our 6 show season build and staffed. We have 180 kids through the shop in our 7 1/2 hour day, then an additional group anywhere from 4 to 40 in our 5 hour rehearsal sessions. That's a lot of planning for success on a student by student level.

All of this takes great communication and great staff and a lot, a lot, a lot of planning. We joke around and say we're making it up. We say we're winging it, but really, we start on Plan A and may end the day on Plan Q. We're not making it up, we're just rolling with the punches.

So understand, when you're overwhelmed and the odds seem terribly out of your favor; reach out, communicate, plan and then trust yourself. You got this.