Where am I now?

Welcome to 2016, It has been quite a while since my last entry and much has changed. After my grandmother had passed away back in August. My mother, older sister and nephew traveled to Dominica for the funeral back in August while I stayed behind with my Dad and younger sister. At the time, country was hit and devastated with one of the worst hurricanes in recent history. My family supposed one week trip turned in a 3 week attempt to escape the Caribbean, they were trapped. During that time my Dad, younger sister and I went through a difficult time without them around. While I knew we were close as a family, our bond was tested through the time they were apart and in a moment of absolutely clarity I finally figured out what matter most...FAMILY ALWAYS COMES FIRST .

Reunited...and it feels so good!

During that moment my family needed me the most and while I didn't always have all the answers while my mom and sister were trapped, I like to believe the fact that I was there was sometimes the most important thing of all, not for them, but rather for me. Sometimes in life, we will be powerless to help where we stand, but sometimes just standing and listen to people when they are in need, can be a powerful tool to help them through turmoil. The good news is that after 3 weeks, my family left Dominica safely and returned home safely, Thank God! 

I swear this happen at one point this past semester.

Despite my family predicament, I had to prepare for my next biggest challenge, teaching my first course as an Adjunct Professor! Throughout the summer I was trying to prepare for this course, but I was also readjusting to my new life in a brand new apartment and a recent death in the family. I was just struggling in preparing for the course. Many of my colleagues reminded me that I shouldn't apply to much pressure to myself on the first run. Of course, people like myself always seem to do. I found myself in panic. I found myself rushing to get this course together in a short period of time. Despite, my lack of time I took away some very interesting things from my first time around as an Adjunct Professor. The first is that I LOVE TEACHING , I knew when I ask my Chairperson for a course to teach, there was something drawing me to the classroom environment in a way I couldn't understand. I refer to that feeling as God, that God was drawing me into the classroom and calling out to me in a way I couldn't comprehend. When I am in the classroom I feel like I enter into a different mentality, a different mode altogether! I love impacting my students with my stories about my time at my former company called Publishers Clearing House, (check out this cool blog entry I was in for PCH). In many ways, I want to try and maybe even inspire them.

The second thing I discovered through teaching is to: BE YOURSELF , during the past 6 months, I learned a great deal about adversity from the moments I struggled the most. I started to use heroes as my platform to handle the personal struggles I was dealing with. I also used it as a platform to talk about how Managers need to showcase organizational heroes to grow. How sometimes those heroes are the leaders we need and their examples are important...I also took it one step further and argued that sometimes we can be those organizational heroes through our choices and actions. In essence, sometimes we can BE OUR OWN HERO . This model can also be applied to our every day lives. I decided during the past 6 months to adopt that mantra and to showcase the true Kevin James as I saw myself as a Hero! So on October 30th. I decided to let my actions speak louder than my words and decided to well...teach a class looking like this...

Yes, I thought Tommy was the best ranger of all time. #Greenranger

This was well received on campus and even online..

Our Graduate Assistant even went as far as to create this...

Super Villains 101 

 For the first time in my life, I finally felt free...free to make my own choices and free to be myself. This was one of the most powerful moments in my young career and makes me certain that as long as I stay true to myself, the sky is truly the limit.

The finally thing I learned through teaching was to STOP TRYING TO BE PERFECT, JUST DO YOUR BEST . There was no way, I would be perfect on my first time teaching, but that didn't stop me from trying to do my best. There were times after a lecture I would feel like this...

That moment when a lecture went so good..

And other times when it felt like this..

SMH!

Despite how I felt, I always got up and was ready to go at it again..It was that commitment and passion that got me through my first semester and even though I wasn't perfect my students responded to me in a way I couldn't imagine...Just check out my ratemyprofessors page

Teaching has also started to get me to begin focusing on understanding if I have a higher purpose beyond what I do now. I have started this process by asking God...What Next?  Where do I go from here...What is my purpose?  Where do we go from here...

When I first started this blog, I was started it under this idea  to promote myself for CBS The Amazing Race! However this has become so much more for me. It has become a way of self expression for my thoughts and It has become a platform for hope. Even though it took me a while to post again. I am glad I did.

I begun my journey working on myself Mentally.. and now I want to work on myself physically..hitting the gym flow:

Its not easy to work out.

The next step is to work on my spiritual life...this is a process, it is a journey. This is my quest, this is my life...

#amazingdean

#amazingprofessor

#amazinglife

#iwanttobeontheamazingrace

#whoscoming