It’s Okay to Be Different

In Ambidextrous from Seth Godin's Blog . Seth Godin  shares,

“Anthropologists have found that we’re very motivated to divide into teams, and once on a team, we’ll work hard to degrade the other team.”

I see all this talk about politics, cultures, and religions and it seems like everyone is on one team or another.

I guess I don’t know why everyone has to be on one team or another. Why can’t we all agree to disagree and then not be on any team?

I guess that is why I hated to participate in team sports. Whenever we played a game and there was someone on the other team struggling, I wanted to help them. I know that is crazy but I never felt so competitive that winning was the most important thing in the world. Whenever I watch school sports, I want whoever has the ball at the time to score a point. I want everyone to be a winner! I know this is unrealistic and not real life but that is how I feel at times like this. I somehow feel that competitions should not always be a life or death situation like a military action.

I’m more of a collaborator than a competitor. I feel like when I’m on a team and everyone has different strengths, we are a stronger team than one where everyone thinks alike and has the same point of view. It doesn’t bother me if people are from different cultures and I’m curious about our differences. I want to know more and learn more about a topic I don’t have enough information about.

I want my students to learn to collaborate with others and celebrate their differences. I want them to see that differences can be strengths and not something to degrade. I want to give them situations where they have to use their individual strengths to be a stronger team.

How do you feel about teams and differences? Please share.

Photo by Anna Samoylova on Unsplash

  

An Uphill Journey

In Uphill both ways from Seth Godin's Blog , Seth Godin shares,

“Newton had it right… you’re going to need to go uphill in order to go downhill.”

It seems like everything I’ve accomplished and felt proud of has been an uphill battle.

Goals that I’ve wanted to achieve has been a struggle for me.

When it has been easy to achieve things, I don’t feel the sense of accomplishment and pride about them as I do the ones that I had to work for. Those seem more of a stroke of luck and happenstance than actually a product of hard work.

But while I’m working towards the goal, I feel I’m putting a lot of sweat equity into it whether it involves mental or physical labor. As I struggle to reach my goal, I feel stress and a sense of inadequacy but I push myself on. I refuse to give up because giving up would be a failure to me. Not achieving my goal but knowing I gave it my best would be tolerable even if I wasn’t happy with the result.

Once I have worked hard and put in lots of time and energy, I can enjoy the pleasure I feel for completing my task. This is my downhill. I ride this pleasure all the way down and feel joy in my heart.

It is this work ethic that I want to instill in my students. I want them to try and give their best effort when working towards their goals. They may face obstacles and feel like giving up but they need to dig deep into themselves and push themselves to finish.

I will be there to encourage them when they are feeling down. When I feel like their energy is flagging, I will be there to offer support. When they want to give up, I will be there to help them push on. They will not have to fight the uphill journey alone.

I want them to feel the pride of reaching their goals and knowing that their hard work paid off. I want them to be able to ride the downhill feeling joy and a sense of accomplishment and pride.

How do you help your students on the uphill journey? Please share.

Photo by Anthony Da Cruz on Unsplash

Taking A Break

In Hello. In  Teach. Run. Write, Christina Torres shares,

“So, I am trying to take a break and invest in myself. I bought a new running watch. I invested in a coaching plan. I’m trying to worry less about my times at Honolulu and Bird Marathon and focus on a marathon in March. I’m hoping to change things up to try and rediscover joy.”

As some of you might know, I’m been busy writing.

I like to have schedules and following them, so I’ve assigned two hours every morning for writing. Yet, every morning I have a moment of fear that I don't know what to write. I start some instrumental soft music from Pandora radio and then I start writing. The hardest thing is to get started so I start writing whatever comes to mind. Once I get started, my mind starts going faster than my fingers can type!

So, for the past few weeks, I’ve been busy writing.

Then I realized that I forgot to add in a few break days. Any habit that you do without a break can become a boring rut!

One reason I know this has happened is that I’ve taken a few days to revise some of my writing.

As I’m revising my writing, I am amazed at how many new ideas are popping in my head!

I love knitting and spinning yarn, but sometimes I take a break from my fiber arts and do some envelope art that involves colored pencils and marker.

Sometimes I like to get out and go hiking or do some gardening.

I usually encourage teachers to follow routines and how it helps students. But I realize that sometimes a break is necessary. As long as the students know that I am adding a break into the routine, I think they won’t mind having a change.

This change may actually be more helpful than harmful.

By changing things up, it is easier to rediscover the joy that Christina mentions.

Do you take breaks from your routine? What do you do? Please share.

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