Life With Lexis K.

Howdy family!  It truly brings me so much happiness just to be writing to y'all again. Can I clock my tea for a minute?  As y'all know, I've been on the job hunt crazy the past six months. Over 50 applications done, 5 first round interviews, but only 1 second round. Plenty of LinkedIn posts, new resume with buzzwords, the whole nine yards. With the unsolicited help of an old fling from last year, I landed a job offer at a local nonprofit. Hold before you queue the round of applause, y'all.  On its surface, it was a hybrid position, matched next year's teaching salary, and offered me crazy-level exposure to the local government and diverse business owners in the area. Being an aspiring entrepreneur myself, I thought this would be a win-win situation. My ultimate goal and main reasoning for even bearing the trials of the job market was to get the H-E-L-L out of the toilet bowl that is education, especially in a charter district. Brings me to today's blog title: ...

Welcome back, family! I'm proud of myself for the consistency that I've been showing on the blog lately. Only 6 years in the making, but that's a story for another day (Read my post about the 3 Cs of Success ).  So the other day, I was driving to work, menially scrolling my Twitter feed (don't text and drive), when I came across a tweet about a teenager applying for a position at McDonald's. He was asked, "Why do you want to work here?" and "Why did you choose McDonald's?" While reading the comments I realized, did that interviewer even want a  real  answer? Did he want the teen to say "I need money for Robux and to start saving for grad bash? There's a McDonald's literally on every corner, why not?" I thought about myself in interviews, portraying someone that I hoped would be accepted and seen as valuable by the hiring manager. "Marketing" my best attribute in hopes of filling the position applied for. It sent me...

Welcome back, family! I do some of my best writing when I'm avoiding doing something else. Right now, I'm avoiding doing any work related to this job as I'm drained of my current profession.  In my mind, I know I should be more thankful to have gainful employment, especially in this economy. But I can't help but wonder, is this all to life? I drag myself out of bed every day and sit in my car until the very last minute. My daily commute is up to 45 minutes one way and I don't like anything about the work I'm doing anymore. It's not fun, there's no joy in it, and most days I find myself disheartened and exasperated. I'm officially just here for a paycheck. At one point, I absolutely despised those teachers who you could feel were just there for a paycheck, but in these three short years of being in education, I too have turned into one of those people I hate.  Am I complaining? Mostly I am venting because it's getting harder to get through the day...

Howdy family! First, I'm glad "howdy" became a part of my everyday greetings because Queen Bey just dropped a new country album, and it got me feeling like a local Houstonian! Is Cowboy Carter better than Renaissance? I wouldn't go that far as putting two baddies against each other because they are sisters! But you didn't come for that. You read the title - and I'm ready to share my story. Hi, my name is Alexis, and I am addicted to procrastination. Now, this isn't an introduction to a 12-step program but this is an intervention of sorts. I've been listening to  Genius Zone  by Gay Hendrick s on Audible for a few weeks and he talks about how he was addicted to self-criticizing. How can that be? How can you be addicted to something you do internally? Even subconsciously, without even thinking about it. He goes into detail about how addiction stems from a void within us, often time from childhood, and we fill it with different ways to cope. A similar sto...

Howdy family!  Amid my job search, the stress and disappointment of many rejections have left me to pause applying for new jobs. It's also caused me to take a step back and reflect on what I want to do. What are my passions? What parts of teaching do I enjoy? What skills do I feel I want to continue working at in my next profession? I've asked myself these questions many times, and I've also been asked by both supervisors and colleagues to try to help me map out my next career steps. But every time I reach a stalemate and shrug my shoulders. "I don't know what I want to do. I feel like I could do anything. I have many passions, not all related. I'm good at many things, but I want to learn how to do more things." This back and forth is usually followed by a contingent question: Do you want to stay in education? And after this question, I find myself even more frustrated than I began. Not having a straightforward answer makes me question myself in a way that...

Howdy family, This past weekend was a full moon in Virgo, which is my sun sign (RIP to Sorry I'm a Virgo Podcast. Or maybe not? Stay tuned) This past full moon is telling us to release what is no longer serving us, to reorganize and reconsider our plans (heavy 6 of Swords energy) and to be willing to try new things.  As y'all know, I've been wanting to quit my job for the last year or so. I'm actually just getting back to work from a two-week leave as an alternative to resigning (ask me about it). During this time, I've been subconsciously preparing for the full moon, by cleaning my house, doing laundry, and redecorating my room. I've also been intentional about the time I spend with myself, while trying to dig deeper into myself and my desires to help me figure out what is my next move in my career, can you say #transitioningteacher.  This brings me to today's post. In transparency, I've been trying to finish writing this for a few days. One day while e...

Welcome back family!  Once again, happy New Year. I feel 2024 has great energy in store for us all. I've been manifesting and prophecizing an Ephesians 3:20 year for everyone reading this blog post! It is written. Amen! Today, I wanted to share the word I chose for this year. This is a practice that I've been doing for the past few years, inspired by a podcast I used to listen to called Having it A.L.L. ,  where he talks about doing this exercise and how it helps him focus his intentions for the year. For the past few years, I've been more intentional and strategic about my direction in the new year. Not as specific as resolutions, but just the overarching theme that I want to embody in the year. Here's a recap of my word of the year for previous years, as well as my declaration for this new year.  2021 - Balance  Back in 2021, there was so much transition going on in my life. I was anticipating being a new graduate. I realized my time in Tallahassee was coming to an...