Chapter One-Hundred-and-Thirty-One: It Happens

A few days ago, our students had been working on a digital project in which they were writing stories and then creating motion graphs that modeled their tale. They had to both analyze their story and their graph to understand what motion looks like on an x/y plane as well as in real life.
My teacher and I were circulating around the room, helping students as needed. I was helping one boy in particular and was asking him some questions about his graph. It wasn't because it was wrong, but because sometimes asking questions helps students think harder about what they're learning.
He got frustrated by my invasive questions and began to cry. I tried to make him feel better (because I felt like a monster teacher), but soon realized me being next to him was just making it worse. He was embarrassed! I gave him some space.
About five minutes later, he is feeling much better and asks me to go to the restroom. While I'm writing his bathroom pass, I comment, "Y'know, I like you much better with a smile."
He furrows his eyebrows together. "What do you mean?" he asks.
"Well, you were upset earlier," I said, "I'm glad you feel better. I'm sorry you were sad."
He takes the bathroom pass, and shrugs with a goofy grin and says, "It happens."
Then he skipped away, not realizing the wisdom that just escaped from his twelve-year-old brain.

How many times do we get caught in the moment? This is probably one of my biggest flaws. If something angers me for a moment, I dwell on that anger for so many extra hours. If I start to worry about a future evaluation, I let this worry keep me up for nights before.
What a wise statement - "It Happens"
It does happen! Emotions happen, events happen, change happens. Life happens.

The question is: What will my reaction be? 

So, as you all know, my blog posting has been... well... not very consistent. At all. Last semester I had a three month period where I didn't write at all. It was hard to find my muse. I was sad that I didn't really have anything to write about (or so I thought). My life was at a constant race of wake up, school, work, sleep, repeat. It was crazy, and I was honestly not a very happy camper!

Was I loving my experience at school? Yes!! Was I enjoying earning money at my late night job? Yes!! But I was suffering mentally, physically, and emotionally because I never stopped. 

That's what writing is for me - a time to stop, reflect, and think about life. 

So this semester - my last semester - I am focusing on the mindset of my reactions to life. Because, yeah, "it happens"! 

To start the semester off right, I started being more active by hanging out with friends. I draw more energy from interaction, and while I get that every day with my kids, they don't always give me great energy (AKA SASS). I started making an effort on seeking friends more often and enjoying company. Isolating myself is really no fun! Friends? Fun!!

I've also made a few adjustments to my schedule to allow more free thinking time. I'm not working late hours as often, and I have many more holes in my schedule for me to work on other things or to just sit, relax, and reflect. Life isn't meant to be busy, busy, busy. Life is meant to be appreciated and reflected on... or maybe I'm becoming too much of a flower child. Or maybe I just turned 22 and am feeling sentimental about everything.

Regardless, I'm happy to say I have more time for thinking, working out (yes, I'm going to the gym again, hooray), planning for post-grad life and most of all..... writing!! Even if I can't write every day in here, I would still like to be more open and loose with my blogging. 

That student I started off talking about? Lessons like that happen every day in my classroom. I don't know what I was thinking when last semester I said, "I have nothing to write about." Crazy talk. My kids are full of so much wisdom and I learn from them every day. I can't wait to share more stories with you as the semester continues. 

Until then... just remember in hard times that - 

"It Happens!" 

Thanks for reading; I'll write you later.