Meet Sheala Dawn Henke | Author and Educator

I believe risk is a critical aspect of growth and how we arrive at who we are in our lives. From my experience, the biggest risks seem to go hand in hand with change. But, facing change by having to confront a challenging choice out of our comfort zone is the best pathway toward growth. Something I’ve learned about risk in the recent years is that very little is under my control and even with the best laid plans, life’s little (or big) disruptions are opportunities to learn to let go and trust in the risk itself to guide you.

More recently in my life, I’ve chosen to make a significant pivot in my career path. After 22 years in my career teaching home, having built many close networks, while also blending in a productive writing career, I was presented with an opportunity to try something new. As I embarked on a path that began in January 2019, it was in February 2019 that I took the first steps toward change and embraced risk to move away from the school I had called home for over two decades. Noting the timeline, this was right before what would go down in history as one of the most momentous global changes in my lifetime. As the events shaped into a world-wide pandemic and a complete paradigm shift in the education system, I only knew that BIG change was on the horizon. I chose to cast my fate out into the unknown. I had virtually thrown my career prospects to the wind, and I had no idea where I might land. Fortunately, the simple fact that I was able to pull my roots at such a time to embrace the unknown lead to an incredibly opportunity. One that aligned with my long-range target to expand my teaching career. I began teaching for the ‘one-year-only’ virtual school over the 2020-21 school year, learning critical new skills that I now apply three years later in my current position at a hybrid school for blended-learning. At this point in the venture, I have achieved the work/life balance I was looking for, and I continue to be challenged every day with new learning.