Motivation Monday!

Photo credit: http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/32471/title/cat-greeting-monday/cat/500

I feel bad for Monday - it gets such a bad wrap. The first day of the work week, the first day after the weekend - it already begins its life being 0-2, but Monday can change if we change the way we approach it. Monday can illuminate its possibilities for you if you can change your first thought in the morning. 

My goal is that every Monday, I will post a list of goals I would like to accomplish for the week and a quote and probably a cat or Beyonce picture (two of my favorite things!) 

Here's to motivation Monday! 

Goals for the Week 

1. Work at least twice - I started a weight loss journey in the summer, and while I have maintained and even lost a few more pounds and inches, I want to build my summer body while it's still a little winter outside. 

2. Grade papers and do report cards - Report cards go out next Monday, and I would like to actually get ahead of the beast, and have them done this week, so I won't spend my weekend drowning in a sea of papers. 

3. Complete a devotional three mornings this week - You can't do it alone. I choose to do it with God. It's a comforting aspect of my life to remember that I don't have to make decisions or choices without the greatest counsel. 

4. Start 100 days of Happy challenge - Lots of people I know are doing the 100 days of Happy challenge and I think it's a great idea. One of my life's missions is that the world sees there are still compassionate, selfless people in the world and what a better way to show the world you love your life and circumstances? Read more about the challenge here: http://100happydays.com/

There you have it - 4 obtainable goals, and the only thing separating me and success is me. We have to overcome that - overcome your own self doubt, which we are all plagued with, and kill this week. Slay it dead like Kentucky did Michigan. This is another opportunity to create the person you want to be and to chase the life you have always desired. 

Quotes 

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Albert Einstein 

"May the odds be ever in your favor." - The Hunger Games 

"Be in love with your life, every detail of it." - Jack Kerouac

I wish they all could be California girls...

Yesterday, a representative from the school in California I really, really, really like called me to invite me to an interview. For a moment, I was elated - truly ecstatic. That feeling was quickly followed up with anxiety about what am I leaving behind, what am I sacrificing - such stupid thoughts to have after receiving a call that I have been waiting for. 

Last night, I wallowed in my pity party that I was the only invitee to. I let myself be consumed with fear of losing my best friend, missing my family too much, and thoughts of people forgetting me if I moved away. This morning, though, I had to shake off the hangover from my one person party and remind myself that there was a time in my life when I wasn't afraid of anything, most certainly not moving away. It's time to resurrect that attitude - this is an adventure. I prayed and sought one, and now I've got it - I can't shy away now. 

After the initial shock, I have had to take a step back and review logistics. How will I move my stuff across country? Will Carlos (my cat, the love of my life, my constant man crush monday) like the days long car rides? Will I be another poor, working too hard teacher or can I actually enjoy life? So many questions, very few answers, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. 

It doesn't matter. Everything will work itself out, and if it doesn't, I can always call my mom. 

So, California, get ready for this ginger - Lucy's on the way! 

Working Woman Wednesday.

A little inspiration to get you going on this #workingwomanwednesday...

GIF credit: http://julielovenbury.com/category/bf/

"For me, an area of moral clarity is: you're in front of someone who's suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act." - Paul Farmer 

credit: Brainy Quotes 

My best friends are ten.

"I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. They answered me: 'Why should any one be frightened by a hat?'

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. Then, I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained." courtesy of GoodReads 

The other day, I was speaking to my friend, my adult friend, and I caught myself saying, "My friend Jane..." My friend immediately stopped me and said, "Jane? Isn't she one of your students?" We laughed it off, and moved on to another topic, but the slip of my tongue gives a lot away about myself. 

My best friends are ten. My students are my friends. I spend more time in their presence than I do with anyone else. Everyone can save their "You shouldn't be their friend" crap for another poor soul, because the reality is that makes me a great teacher. The literature on best practices is exhaustive, literature on reaching students of special populations is equally represented, but very few people mention the fact that if your students don't like you or do not feel supported, they won't work for you, and they won't learn. I had a professor in college tell someone who checked on my references that I was too passionate - you can never be too passionate, you can never love your students enough. It's a strength, not a weakness. The world should be concerned when teachers lose their passion and their love for their students. My decision to relocate and seek other avenues for my life has nothing to do with my students, but it has everything to do with what they are teaching me. 

This post began with a quote from The Little Prince, one of my favorite stories (and I recommend that every single person read it multiple times), and I couldn't feel more true about it's sentiment. The narrator, an airplane pilot, had dreams of being an artist, but grown-ups criticized in the way grown-ups do, and dashed his dreams, calling his clearly dangerous boa constrictor a hat. He was afraid to draw again, because of others' opinions, and how true is that for all of us, all of us who have already had grown-ups tell us that no one would be afraid of a hat? My students show me every day don't be afraid and don't care what people think. Wear what you want, act how you want, and inevitably, you will find someone and somewhere in the world who appreciates that. My students are fearless, and that is a true lesson I have learned from them. They come in every day almost totally unaware of what we are going to do that day, but they meet each day with a smile and an undying passion to learn and live and have fun. It's that lesson that has comforted me in the thought of leaving and starting new. 

To my best friends - thanks for teaching me more than I could ever teach you. 

Photos courtesy of Google Images

The Boa Constrictor 

I turned down a job in Morocco.

Today, I turned down a job in Morocco. It was at a prestigious institution with a halfway decent benefit package, but I did not take it. It wasn't for me. 

In the past few weeks, an interest in changing jobs and relocating has grown from lazily browsing overseas recruiting sites to diligently completing applications and writing cover letters. I am actively pursuing a different avenue for my life, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I am scared. I am scared of rejection. I am scared of change. I am scared that I am making a wrong decision. 

I have had to take a step back in this short journey and ask myself - why? Why am I scared of such silly, truly pointless concerns? Is it because that I have grown up, grown comfortable, or grown complacent? All of those are awful realizations. I never want to grow up. I don't like being comfortable, and being complacent is one of my biggest fears. I am not called to be average or mediocre - my attitude, Beyonce, and Jesus tell me so. I need to pursue a new job and a new avenue for my life just as I pursued my bachelor's degree, my master's, and excellence for my current students. I have to take that step, I have to shed that fear, that heavy, pointless, sinking fear and chase the life I have always dreamed of living. 

So, here it is, a blog about my journey - my journey for a new job, my journey of overcoming fear, and most importantly, a journey for the life I've always imagined. 

Here's to being a ginger on the move...