CAREY’S CORNER {carey peña reports}
HIS FAVORITE SUBJECT WAS RECESS Elementary principal advocates for health and wellness Carey Peña | Contributing Writer
“If your why is not bigger than your obstacle, your obstacle will win.” We all face obstacles in our lives. However, the most successful people I have interviewed over the years know how to overcome obstacles with purpose and perseverance. They clearly understand the why. Like many of the people I interview on my podcast, Carey Peña Reports, I found out about Chris Lineberry’s story when someone said to me in passing, “I know a guy you have to meet. His story is so inspirational.” That always gets my attention. Chris Lineberry, Ed.D. is an educator, author and nationally known advocate for giving our kids a break. Lineberry began work as a teacher and had a lightning-fast rise to becoming a principal, while in his 20s, at a rural school in North Carolina. There were extremely high expectations for this wunderkind. And with high expectations often come a high degree of stress. 18 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JULY 2018
One day in 2006, Lineberry was sitting in his office when something didn’t feel right. Tightness in the chest. High blood pressure. His coworker, who had some medical training, said seven words Lineberry will never forget. “Son, you are having a heart attack.” That moment changed the course of his life. “A lot of times in life, some of the things you think could be the worst things that could happen turn out to be a tremendous blessing. I received a gift that day when I had my heart attack. What I thought was important, really wasn’t,” Lineberry said. “It shifted the whole way I look at being an educator and leader in schools.” He realized the stress he was feeling in his own life was similar to the stress many kids were feeling. This realization only deepened when tragedy struck at a nearby school. “A fifth-grade child took his own life over his test scores,” Lineberry said, still clearly pained by this story.
