By Grechen Wingerter, President of the Board of Trustees
Hey Everyone. It’s been a minute. In the “Before Times”, this month’s post would have been my last. However, due to the unusual circumstances of the past nearly year and a half, I will continue to write these monthly blog posts for yet another year, as I will be continuing on as the President of the Board of Trustees until June of 2022. Whew! What a ride it’s been so far!
I’ve learned a lot during this pandemic — as I am sure many of us have. I’ve learned a lot about myself, about other people (still not a fan of “people” I’m afraid), about what it means to be Board President, what it means to be part of something larger than myself, and how much I truly didn’t know that I didn’t know.
It’s quite eye-opening to realize how much one does not know about so many things. And, to be okay with not knowing things. That’s the hard part for a perfectionist like me. Mary Poppins may be “practically perfect in every way”, but I, and most of the rest of us, am not. Nor should we be. And yet, we still strive for perfection in our lives — as parents, as spouses and partners, as students, as teachers, as Board Presidents. The problem is, of course, when we strive for that perfection all the time, we never reach it, and we set ourselves up for failure as a result.
After denying it for most of my life, I am finally admitting to my own struggle with perfectionism. I am finally beginning to recognize that I cannot be everything to everyone, nor can I do everything, or be everywhere. I mean, I knew that, but letting go of it and moving forward from it — still a struggle and a big revelation.
And so here I am telling you that I am not the perfect Board President. There is a lot I just don’t know — even after a year on the job. But in admitting to not knowing, there is a lot I can still — and am certainly more than willing —
to learn. I can be okay with not knowing an answer to a question or a procedure or a policy. I can ask for help in finding those answers — not an easy task for a perfectionist either — and it will be okay. I am working on these same things in my personal life, too. Also not an easy task.
Thank you for entrusting me with another year as your Board President. I will not be “practically perfect in every way”, but I will do my best to be Board President you need me to be.
Grechen Lynne Wingerter
President, Board of Trustees
WUUC
Comments