...Life Keeps Teaching Me New Things.

Change.

I sometimes get kind of cocky and think I have everything all figured out about life, and then I realize that no matter how long I live or how many experiences I have...I will never be able to safely say that I understand it completely. I get thrown a curve ball every now and then that surprises me at even my age, so it is very understandable that the students I teach are often struggling with many different things with regard to change.

I think that is the single most fascinating thing about people. One day you think you are secure in the knowledge that things are going to work out the way you expect them to, and then...a big change happens. Change is actually potentially a really good thing if we can learn to deal with it.

I have a perfect example. It happened to be in my late 30s as a young mom that I had to undergo a DRASTIC change that was completely unexpected and unpredictable that had to do with my health. I have talked about it before, but it still interests me that I never for a moment saw it coming, and then...bam! There it was. Change. It caused me to have to learn to deal with my life differently, and it caused me to change my day to day lifestyle and my career. In doing so, I learned a lot about myself and what I was really capable of. I won't say it was without pain, most major changes involve a painful period of self reflection. But once that phase was passed through, it became more about learning to cope again with my new life. Within each person there are several "lives" that they will likely lead. (Some lives are easy to live, others more difficult. Sometimes one life teaches us how to live a better one.)

I see my fair share of frustrations and struggles as a teacher - and it seems that one unexpected turn of events at just the wrong moment in time can cause a person to grapple with a great deal of heartache and sometimes worse. The best thing to realize is this. We are all struggling with something, just not all of us at once. So if your day is awful, look around for someone who is happy. Look for someone who is not also at the depths of their own frustration. It helps to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that YOU WILL GET TO A BETTER PLACE.

Hang in there.

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