“Are you stuck in the past or are you plodding forward?”
I have to confess that I sometimes get stuck in the past. It
is so easy to do things because that is the way I’ve always done things or that
is the way it has always been done. It is easier to do things that way because I
know what needs to be done and usually the outcome can be predicted.
Plodding forward involves risks. I may be trying something
new that I don’t know how to do. This opens the possibility of mistakes or
failure.
But the keyword is possibilities.
I don’t know what possibilities may occur for the positive
as well as negative. So many more good things could happen that I’m unaware of.
Opportunities may present itself that wasn’t an option by getting stuck in the
past. I need to get past the fear of failure and look towards the future.
Moving forward can be a scary thing. When a child takes
their first steps or a teenager gets behind the wheel of a car or leaves for
college, these moments are scary!
Many of my students have experienced this firsthand and are
not anxious to repeat the process. It is my job to help the students get past
this feeling. I want to show them that in the past, they didn’t have my support
and knowledge. They are not alone, and I will help them move forward by being
with them. I will be their safety net. Even if mistakes happen, or they are not
successful on the first try, it will not affect how I feel about them. I want my
students to feel that we are in this together and there is safety in numbers.
How do you help your students leave the past and move forward?
Please share.
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