Receiving day to day support is important to me. Whether it be personal relationships or working relationships, they tend to make me not only a better professional but a better person as a whole.
My husband is my biggest support, not just financially but mentally and emotionally as well. His continuous encouragement makes me strive to want to do better, not for him but for myself. I always want to be the best at everything and I know that's not being realistic, but I'm the best in his eyes. My mom is another big support for me, she pushes me, gives me needed advice and sometimes unwanted advice but I listen because she's my mom and I know she will never stir me wrong.
There are a lot of department heads working with Head Start, and me being a Center Director I have a lot of people to answer to on a day to day basis which I don't like but it's how our agency does things. Recently, a new Education Coordinator was hired and she challenges me and pushes me in a less aggressive way to do better. I see the way she carries out things on a day to day basis and it challenges me to change my way of thinking and some of the way I do things. This is a support from someone who doesn't even realize they are supporting me. She always tells me I'm doing a good job and sometimes ask for my input which means a lot and having someone who is in a higher position who challenges you, gives you the constructive criticism you need and doesn't hesitate to tell you that you are doing a good job is a supportive person to me.
Some of my staff are a big support, they step in without even asking or without overstepping their boundaries and without complaint and being a director of a facility where you have independent employees who are willing to go the extra mile is huge with all the job responsibilities that I hold.
All of the supports mentioned make things so much easier and whether it's at home or at work I feel the positive energy from the people who surround me. Without these supports it would be that much harder for me to succeed and I would always be second guessing myself. If I didn't have my husband and my mother I don't know what I would do because after all they are my biggest fans and they challenge me to want and to do more. I have been on jobs where people didn't support you, everyone was out for themselves, however, being surrounded by people who have your back, can step in when needed, sets examples and can give you constructive criticism and praise makes my workdays that much easier and less stressful and without these people I don't know that I continuously grow as a professional.
