lately, i feel as if i haven't gotten into the groove of work/coaching yet, and it's causing some frustration on my part that can translate into grumpiness that probably can be inferred by my coworkers. i don't know the reason for it, or if there is a reason, it's just waking up every morning still exhausted & experiencing shoulder strain & not smiling all the time & hoarse voice from yelling over misbehaving kids...i keep hoping things will turn around soon, otherwise it's going to be a LOOOOOONG year. the grey, windy, rainy, stormy weather has not been helping much either.
then, i have days like the past two days. days that put my troubles and frustrations and insignificant sorrows back into perspective. days that make me realize how incredibly lucky i am to have the life i have. days filled with stories about the girl whose mom is addicted to meth and has disappeared again on a binge, so the girl is homeless and staying with another student's family. another girl whose homelife is so chaotic that her dad is ok with her staying with another family (ironically, the two girls are staying with the mom of a 3rd student of ours and a former 4th). a boy whose mom just died after a long battle with leukemia. another boy who has been threatened online, and has been in trouble in the past so he's trying really hard to avoid confrontation.
and the worst of all, a 19 year old former student & brother of one of my classmates, son to one of mom's coworkers, had a skateboarding accident and suffered brain trauma so severe that he was put into a drug-induced coma and life support until the rest of the family could arrive to say goodbye. a mere 36 hours of stress, and he was taken off life support. 19 years old. and gone. leaving behind many lives that will never be the same again.
so those bad days you have, they start to seem not-so-bad. sure, the kids are acting like brats or are whining about having to do homework, but in the grand scheme of things, is is really that bad, or that annoying that it has to ruin your whole day? just try to put (and keep) things in perspective. i know i am.
thanks for writing this. it's exactly what i needed to hear right now. :)
ReplyDeletefor sure! on a happier note, the boy in the skateboarding accident has made AMAZING progress in the past week - while his family was making hospice plans & putting together a team to harvest his organs, he managed to give one of his friends the finger...since then, he's walked, gaining speech, giving the nurses & family a hard time, etc. what a miracle!
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