I started blogging back in July of this year. At the time, it represented a huge risk for me. I wasn't afraid of putting my ideas out there. Honestly, I've probably been closer to arrogance than humility when it comes to my own ideas. Perhaps a better way to say it is I usually think my ideas are pretty darn good. The risk for me in starting a blog wasn't ideas, it was my pitiful command of the English language, particularly those pesky grammar rules. Comma's, semi-colon's (whatever they are) and the like really intimidate me. I was worried about how the ideas I was so comfortable sharing face to face would translate to written expression.
I'm now 6 months into the journey. I'm not sure that I've gotten my grammar perfect in each post, but with a little help from Grammarly, my posts at least read better than trying to talk with a mouth full of peanut butter. I've learned a lot on this journey but perhaps the biggest thing I've learned is that you have to believe in yourself outside of yourself; in other words, many of your greatest strengths lay beyond the realm of how you're typically viewed and what you do for a living. I'm an educator. Education is what I do and it's what the majority of the people who "know me" or "know of me" affiliate with. What I'm learning as I process my thoughts and ideas through this blog is that education is a long way from what defines me, As an educator, there are several transferable skills and attributes I possess that will help me accomplish some of greatest dreams. You see, being an educator is just one small component of who I am even though it's the lens that most people view me through. I'm learning to recognize and play-off of all my strengths. The mere act of blogging has gotten me to believe in myself outside of myself. It's given me greater confidence not just in my own abilities, but in the belief that I can change the world, be a leader of positive change. I'm going to start a non-profit organization to benefit families adopting children and finish writing a book during 2018; two things I've always dreamed of doing but never gotten of the ground with until now. Who knows, both may fail, both may succeed wildly or, as is often the case, reality may settle right in between the two. I have no publisher lined up for my book and I have only a very small base established for my non-profit but I'm not worried or afraid. I believe in myself and I know that every flood started with a drop of rain. I don't know what your next steps are for 2018 but if you're not blogging, I would highly encourage you to start. Not only do you have nothing to lose, you have something to contribute and everything to gain. If we're going to innovate and improve our world, we need you to believe in yourself outside of yourself.
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I was driving home the other day when I pulled up behind a nice Cadillac XTS. I like cars so this one definitely caught my eye. The other thing that caught my eye was the vanity license plate on the car. They read "2ND2NO1" (second to no one). While I'd like to think that license represents that persons struggle to overcome obstacles and make something from their life in less than ideal circumstances, I couldn't help but hope that was not how that person approached life.
I'm not going to advocate for self-deprecation here as that can be equally as unflattering. It's ok to acknowledge and accept praise for a job well done. What I will say is that seems a lot more likely to come your way if you approach many situations as being second to everyone. It's easy for me to say this as an educator because it's what we do. Our job is to make those around us better; to help them grow in ways they didn't know were possible. Anyone can do it though. You don't have to be an educator, work for a church, non-profit or the like, you just have to approach things with the benefit of others in mind. I hope that person is experiencing success beyond their wildest dreams. I hope they have an opportunity to be second to someone someday. It's a humbling experience to put others before yourself. In a world where we hear we've "got to get ours" I can honestly tell you that the best I've ever gotten came from being second to someone; putting them before myself. I made my own little vanity plate below. Maybe someday I will get one just like it to go on my car. #2ND2EVRY1 I've seen the picture below making the rounds on the internet. I don't have any complaints about it. They are legitimate issues in education. Many of them need to be discussed and ultimately, resolved. I bet as you read over them you will find yourself agreeing with almost all of them. The interesting thing would be putting together a list of the opposite: Things Teachers Did Sign-Up For. You see, despite all the negative, all that we have to overcome every single day, we still signed up for one thing: to make a difference in a child's life. Nothing listed above can take away the feeling that you get when a kid tells you "thank you" or how you've impacted their life. Nothing on the list can replace how you believed in a child when nobody else would.
We'll get all the things on the list above right someday. It might not be during our lifetime; history can point to countless examples of those who fought for a cause but didn't live to see it come to fruition. Is there any cause greater though than being here, now, laying the groundwork for what is to come? It's why we can't stop the fight, and the fight is putting our best foot forward every single day. It's why we must resist becoming the "get off my lawn" generation of educators. If we put our best out there for the world to see every day, people will take notice. It's this that will make people want to hear our story. And when they hear our story, the change will occur. I am certain that there were plenty of things that Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln and numerous others didn't sign up for. However, what they did sign up for is what allowed those things they didn't sign up for to crumble over time. |
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January 2020
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