I sat down with Mahri outside of a sweet little coffee shop in Cape Neddick, Maine. The sun was shining bright and the temperature felt perfect, like the last drops of summer should. It’s always funny sitting down with a stranger, there is so much to learn and an hour never seems like enough time. Mahri ordered a chai tea, I ordered my, usual hot latte with oat milk. We weren’t complete strangers, we had met three times before in the shops when she had introduced herself and shared how she had recently purchased a house in Maine. I watched as her excitement about having closed on a house in Maine bubbled over. I still remember the feeling I got when I first moved to Maine and crossed over the Piscataqua Bridge with my parents fully packed and loaded, our lives contained in a U Haul truck reaching for a fresh start. The waters below seemed to sparkle and lament that everything was going to be okay.
Mahri’s journey began in Massachusetts, wove through Connecticut, and Rhode Island. She is a new englander at heart, strong, reverent, and gritty. She understands life isn’t a bed of roses until you choose to fill your gardens with plants and flowers you admire most. Like all of us, insecurities and anxiety got the best of her in school. She recanted how she quietly withdrew amongst her group of friends during certain times, in a way that reminded me of doing the same with mine. I felt an instant connection with Mahri as she allowed her vulnerabilities to surface during our coffee time, more so when she pivoted to the present and explained why it is important she is making current choices in life and how they will shape her future. I shared with her something that happened to me earlier in the week and how it was bringing about feelings of shame and humility. She listened thoughtfully and asked me if I wanted a technique that she uses to move through times that she has made mistakes and is less than her best self.
I nodded. I wasn’t wanting to sit in shame for the long haul like I have in the past. I wanted to learn what it means to forgive others and also ourselves in the moment to avoid carrying around baggage for the next decade. She smiled as I nodded my head and explained how she calls out her inner personality who basks in anxiety and feeling less than others. She has even named her, this is when I was introduced to Agnes. I immediately compared Agnes to my own inner child who likes to surface every now and then, creating waves of doubt and uncertainty. In a professional but caring tone she modeled how she tells Agnes that she has her back and the situation is under control. I smiled. During any other time in my life, this might have made me incredibly hesitant and unwilling to participate. I would have written off talking to myself in any manor a bit insane. Lately I’ve been realizing that the inner dialogues in our heads have been programmed since we were babies by all sorts of influences and persons in our lives. Some of them have been helpful and some not so much. I’ve been leaning on the premise that we all have the ability to retrain our brains if you will. Watching Mahri model this incredibly intimate dialogue with herself felt as though I was receiving therapy in the moment.
To be fully transparent, Mahri has a degree in Psychology and practiced as a school psychologist for many years. She has since developed an educational system and works with educators and leaders to help inform and provide new skill sets and ways in which to create balance and harmony in student environments. Her high impact programs have led to beneficial changes for educators and existing systems nationwide. Dr. Mahri Wrightington, CEO of PD Monster is making an impact on the world around her. Her experiences and choices in life have led her to a position in which she can help others move through stress, anxiety, conflict, trauma, and all the lower based emotions that get us stuck and spiraling in life, mostly in a classroom environment. As we sat in the bright sunlight during the last golden bits of summer, I quickly realized I was in the presence of a great force of nature not only wanting to bring about positive change, but having a history of success in actually doing it.
I asked her the inevitable question that always comes up, “why Maine?” She smiled and looked down at her toes as she pulled them up beneath her in the Adirondack chair. “I came here as a kid and it has been my happy place ever since.”
There is something about Maine and its magic that lures us all here if we aren’t one of the fortunate families to have been rooted here for generations prior. Maine is where we get back to our roots, play in the spoils of nature, and build connections that seem to run deeper. Mahri and I quickly realized that we both love the water and outdoors and want to find a way to paddle and hike when our schedules align and allow us some time to play like we did when we were children. The golden piece of wisdom I took from my coffee with Mahri is the reminder that we all make mistakes in life and that the world will be hard enough on us, we need to make amends and move on so that we can continue creating a great life for ourselves and the ones we love. Our lives might not always fit the mold we grew up with as the way to be, but they are still as valid and valuable as those we have been taught are the best way to live. If we are open to connecting with others, that in itself, can help keep us looking towards the sun. It will keep us moving forward in the right direction.
I looked up Mahri on Linked In for the first time this morning and this is what I found:
“I am a professional development trainer who is passionate about systems change. As the founder of PD Monster, my mission is to spread the message that adult beliefs, attitudes, and actions are what have the greatest impact on student outcomes. I specialize in providing practical training that participants can implement immediately. My areas of expertise include classroom management, functional behavior assessment and behavior intervention planning, team training to build behavior problem-solving capacity, effective IEP development, progress monitoring tool development, interventions for school refusal, and alternative program development.”
It’s ironic that I spent five years as an educational technician in Maine working alongside students with behavioral needs. I’m wondering if that might be another reason that Mahri and I seemed to connect with one another so easily. We come from a place of knowing that the world and its systems are not perfect and can’t always keep our children and vulnerable population out of harms way. We’ve both seen the after effects of poverty, abuse, trauma, and fear on children and know that something needs to change to meet our future’s needs. Mahri just happens to have jumped into the creation of possible solutions with both feet. She is a bright light among us and I couldn’t have been happier to have bumped into her on my own journey here in Maine.
If you’d like to learn more about Mahri visit her company’s page here. If you live in Connecticut or Southern Maine you might be lucky enough to bump into her out and about living a great life.
