Welcome to my open book!

I thought I would make my first post a fairly personal one. Fitting, right? It’s also appropriate since it’s the time of year that we are typically the most reflective. Wrapping up the end of the current year, and setting goals for the year to come. It’s my favorite time of year actually. A time that I get to come to terms with goals I didn’t meet, hold myself accountable for promises I made to myself that I let go of, and push myself to celebrate all I did accomplish. I get to celebrate progress. Just typing that was like a punch in the gut. So, I’ll say it again. I get to celebrate PROGRESS!

One of the proudest moments of my life was in 2014 when I completed a half-marathon. I hate running. Cardio is my nemesis. But, I trained hard and in that year completed a 5k, 10k, and 2 halfs. I was so proud! I really wanted to do that again. So, last year I ran an untrained 10k with 3 days notice. I was slow, but I finished! I decided 2019 was my year to get back to it. I planned to do not one, but two 10k’s, and a half. Want to know what I did? None of that. Lol. But, I got back in the gym this year, and forced myself to do a lot more cardio so I could begin training. Training started last month. No big deal, right? Maybe not for most. But for me, starting doing the thing I hate most, is a very big deal.

The truth is, we are conditioned to focus on goals. Big! BIGGER! More, more, more! Reach a goal, and then set another. I’m not really against that thought process. I have encouraged myself, my staff, and my students using those very words. But, in my effort to build and keep building my students’ self-confidence, I realized that I needed to do the thing I tell them to do on their way to every goal… celebrate progress. Acknowledge the milestones on their journey. It doesn’t take a lot, but what it does is give our heart and mind a chance to stop critiquing where we are, and see that we’re not where we once were. Offers a moment to speak to ourselves and say, “great job!” Or, at least, “keep going!”

I’ll be beginning the new year smiling. Proud of the things I accomplished that I never even set out to do. Proud of every student I worked with that finished their first book, graduated high school after having spent the year prior worried they wouldn’t do so, wrote ”the longest essay I’ve ever written” in spite of their total disdain for writing a single word, and even the student that still doesn’t like learning. Even that student, IS making progress. That is worth every firework we’ll hear at the start of the year.

Take a few moments to think about the goals and projects you’ve started. You’re not finished… yet, but you’ve started. Celebrate that!

2020, we’re ready!

-Tia