“Aaagggghhhhhh!” I screamed when I finally found my voice as a gentleman kindly “pushed” me over the edge of the cliff. It was most certainly my own threshold of possibilities. After zip-lining several times down various slopes from “way high up,” I was “forced” by teacher candidates to take the final jump to our final destination – the ground on a global studies trip to Los Cabos San Lucas. As I became somewhat frantic in a minor kind of way – or maybe it was in a major way – the repelling worker smiled at me and said these 5 words… “Why so much drama, lady?”

What?! was all I could think of at the moment. Actually, I think what actually flew through my mind was “I will tell you why so much drama, guy – I am about to jump – no wait, you just pushed me over the edge, and I need to remember not to burn my hands on the way down or hit the cliff wall or the group of teacher candidates below chanting “Dr.V, Dr.V, Dr.V…” And now that I actually think about it (post-zip-lining so perhaps a bit delayed) I have three kids at home who call me mom, and I don’t think I actually signed on for this when I went to “teacher school” back in the day and…Wait, I am on the ground and the teacher candidates are cheering… I knew I could do it! I am so cool! I am like snoopy-joe-cool-cool. Yup – that’s me.” Okay –so maybe I lost you in all the drama, but that actually leads me to our point…you were wondering if there was a point at this point, right? Well, there is.

A little bit of drama can help us get that final push out of our comfort zones and try something we might not normally do. A little too much drama, however, can wreak havoc on our plans and lives. If I would have become completely flustered, I may have started crying, which would have caused the gentleman worker to jump off the cliff himself, or it could have caused me to go too quickly and forget the instructions, causing me to burn my hands something horrible. Or I could have fallen to the ground screaming and scarred my students irrevocably – wait, does that happen anyway? Hopefully not….

Sometimes we find ourselves surrounded by drama queens. Maybe at times we find that we are the drama queens. What is important here to remember is to acknowledge the drama for what it is, know that some can be healthy, too much can be damaging, and sometimes we just have to leap.

Do what is right and follow our hearts – no over-the-top drama needed but a little is okay. Our own advice, don’t let the drama get the best of you and ruin your story. Passion is great, but too much drama can damage the outcome. Hope for the best, scream a little if necessary, and give it a try. Sometimes you just have to let it go – and enjoy the ride.

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.