Make no bones about it, Winter Storm Helena has had her way with much of the southeast the past few days. Altering much of our plans here in North Carolina and beyond. While the Triangle region didn’t get hit nearly as hard as other parts of the the state and southeast, many alterations had to be be made for folks throughout the region.

https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/winter-storm-helena-impacts?cm_ven=T_WX_LL_10717_4

Businesses closed, events cancelled, postponed, rescheduled. Even our state’s new governor was forced to give his inaugural address from inside the executive mansion this morning in place of the traditional outdoor address and formal swearing in ceremony on the steps of the state capitol.

As many of us are forced indoors the next few days due to snow, ice and in climate weather we’re reminded of the importance of being flexible. When even our governor can brush  aside significant formalities and make the best of the situation, it really puts things all into perspective.

We as educators are flexible. We have to be. Everyone at my school knows I always have my Google Calendar accessible whether by laptop or my phone. One or both are always on me. Are those dates, times, meetings in stone? No. Why? Need to be flexible. Period.

Life happens. We need to make the most of unfortunate events such as Helena-induced inclimate weather which causes delays or cancelation of plans and adapt.

As I write this blog the above photo shows the current situation on one of our city’s major highways. You can see there isn’t much traffic. Most folks are heeding the advice of the networks, DOT, Governor Cooper and other stakeholders, staying off the roads and remaining home unless they absolutely need to travel. This is significant time to catch up on things at home. Spending more time with family, catching up on chores, or in my case finding inspiration for my weekly blog post.

Flexibility is vital. We can either complain about changes or embrace and move it along. I am notorious for finding a silver lining in any situation. I’ve found it in this winter weather this weekend. I had several plans – they were all dashed. Now, what do I going forward?

I’ve already found inspiration to blog today and am now making plans for an upcoming #EduGladiators podcast (shameless plug) What about you? Ball is in your court.