Be the Change no. 11

“The only dangerous opinions are the opinions that are not questioned.”

Be the change.

I don’t know why people concern themselves with the opinions of others. Like any of us have it all figured out enough to be in charge of our own lives let alone another’s life. BUT if you want the opinions of others they are out there all the time. Not facts. Not research. Not support. Just opinions. And some of those opinions you can question and others you can’t. If you question those other opinions then you get shut out, shut down, and sent away.

And folks have plenty of opinions to give on the opinions of others as well. Media is filled with soundbite after soundbite of folks giving their opinions on what someone else said. Maybe they’re interpreting what someone else said like we’re all English majors looking at a Shakespearean tragedy or dissecting a Dickinson poem. Nope. We just care an awful lot about the opinions of others. And it is a difficult cycle to break.

The opinions of some folks should matter to you. The people see you every day can give you a rather good sense of where you’re messing up and what you need to fix. BUT even then that is their opinion of who they want you to be in their life. And ultimately you got to figure out your own role in this world. It is scary because how do you know you’re making the right choices? How do you know you are not going to mess this up?

Well, odds are you are just like I do. We all mess up and make the wrong decisions. We just have to learn from those decisions and start making better ones. The only problem with making bad choices is not learning from those choices. In a world where folks carefully script what they show you, it might be difficult to believe they’re all just as lost as you are. They don’t know. They are just hiding the fact that they are a mess. And some folks are better at hiding that than others. And we are all just looking to feel needed.

So worry a lot more about your own opinion of you. If you feel like you suck then doing something to make you feel better. It’s scary BUT you only get this life to work it all out. And you only have today to feel better about who you are. Don’t let other people make you feel like less when you can do that all on your own. Be your own best friend and start helping you feel better? You deserve not to feel like you suck at life. You deserve to be better.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange

Be the Change no. 10

“It may not be your fault but it is still your problem.”

Be the Change.

Well, today was the roughest of the morning routines for push-ups and the plank. Everything else was fine but I struggled to get in those last six push-ups first thing. And the plank’s last thirty seconds seemed like such a bigger struggle today than the first thirty have ever been. BUT, I am still committed to the whole month being devoted to change. It is only day two and I cannot wait to see how things feel after day twenty-eight. Looking forward to a better morning routine and a better day with that in place.

There is a lot of grumbling and mumbling going on around teaching this month. A lot of folks are done. A lot of folks are talking about leaving. According to a study a colleague shared with me yesterday, over half of teachers are looking at leaving the game. I don’t know what their reasons are because I am sure they all differ BUT that does seem to be a problem. I am not going anywhere. I had a student ask me what I would do if I was told I couldn’t teach anymore. And I was baffled by that question. All I have ever done is teach. I teach here every morning. I teach my children in the evenings. I don’t just show up to a building and start being a teacher. And maybe that is what part of the problem is.

I don’t need a government building or a state curriculum or a textbook contract to teach. I don’t need a projector or a computer or paper to teach. I just need a mind that is curious and ready to learn something new. And maybe that is stifled and in short supply today as well?

How do you stop teaching? How do you stop learning? How do you stop changing? Well, I think the answer is all around us. There are many things I do not like about the job of teaching. There are many things that are not my fault when I enter the building every day BUT become my problem. BUT I get to choose how I handle that situation every day. I can choose that every problem is insurmountable. I can choose that every problem is too much and I should just tap out. Or I can choose to embrace the messiness and unpredictability that is life. I can choose to fix the things I can fix and be a model for change. The choice is mine.

I think a lot of folks forget the power of choice. Sure, there are kids that come to school as a free daycare. BUT nothing is free. Not education, not ignorance, not freedom, not enslavement, not change, not stagnation, everything costs someone something. And sometimes we are unaware of the cost of thinking things are free and devaluing them on that principle. You don’t value anything that you don’t have to work to get. The value of a thing is not on the price tag or the appraisal of an outside party . . . All value is internal. It is what you feel it is worth.

And I think a lot of people are caught up in the idea of things being free when they truly are not. Everything worth anything in life costs. You have to put yourself out there, you have to become vulnerable, you have to go to strange places, you have to try new things, you have to accept that sometimes it isn’t going to work out . . . . That is the cost of life in all its messiness and craziness. BUT without the cost, you get no change. So, are you willing to embrace what it costs to live or are you simply existing until you die?

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange