Year Two So Far

Tomorrow will mark the start of the sixth week of the school year. Three more weeks and we're done with the first quarter. I've been asked a lot how this year is going. Here are my thoughts.

Hands down, this year is better. I feel more in control of my classroom, I know how to handle kids who act out and their behavior isn't as upsetting to me as it was last year, I'm better at planning and get through things more quickly, and I have yet to cry about anything related to school.

So what it really comes down to is this: the difference is me. I'm better.

And guess what? That's the purpose of life. To get better. We'll have problems our whole life, and it is foolish and naïve to hope that "things" will get better. We know from the scriptures that the world will get worse before it gets better, so it stands to reason that our lives will only get harder.

But that's not to say that we have to have miserable lives full of struggle and heartache. We will have trials, but as we get better, those things don't affect us as much. We're able to better handle the trials and struggles that we're faced with, and we learn to be positive even in the face of negativity. The happiest people aren't those who don't have hardships, but those who learn to have faith and be happy in spite of those hardships.

Sometimes I get excited thinking about how if this year's so much better, how much better could year four or five be? I could maybe even become the kind of teacher I want to be!

That being said, I still dread going to work and I think every day about what I could be doing instead. Apparently I have still have some room to grow.