Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is to be vulnerable with the stories of shame. I am so proud to say that Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is to be vulnerable with the stories of shame. I am so proud to say that I have earned my three degrees in education. I say this because in the state of our world right now, there is so much negativity for educators. Yet, it is the lens that I choose to view education that gets me up in the morning to show up for the students. It is the lens that I view the situations that arise as either a lemon or sweet lemonades that guide me toward the best way to solve the marketing problem of education.
Shame is not a fun word in the dictionary. According to the oxford dictionary, shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. Shame is what I have endured for almost 2 decades in education. Yet I still get up and show up for education because it is my core and what I love. It was the one educator that gave me a chance. It is the hope that I can do that for other humans that I’m lucky enough to teach. I know that I have impacted lives and it is the most incredible feeling. I think it is the same feeling as someone that said they won the lottery. Yet that lottery is in the form of money. The lottery feeling in education is knowing that you were part of the change agent that led to another human selecting a career because of how you taught them. That intrinsic feeling last a lifetime because it can’t be taxed and no one can take that feeling away from you.
As you reflect on the career path that you chose, does this career provide you with the lottery in a lot of money so that you can live comfortably or does the lottery in that intrinsic reward that last you a lifetime and gives you purpose for why you show up every day? What lens will you choose today?
I choose the lens of being an educator because it is challenging when others from the outside view it as easy as pie. I chose the lens of an educator because someone once gave me a chance (4th grade teacher). I choose the lens of being an educator because of the endless joy that the students give to me (#feedback) on a daily basis without being asked. I choose the lens of an educator to defy the odds of labels for the students that were not given a chance in school. I hope to be lucky enough to meet them and tell them that they can turn it around because I believe in them. Although I had the amazing teacher that gave me a chance, I am forever grateful to Mrs. Koos. I was also challenged by educators and colleagues that told me that I would never measure up. I choose to take the road less traveled and not let the noise stop me from continuing to live out my dream of consistently showing up for the students.
I choose the lens of a POSSIBILITARIAN!
Credits given to Luvvie Ajayi for inspiring me to write this post
