Goals. Resolutions. It seems every time I set one the same thing happens (with very few exceptions). I fail.
Take, for example, my brother's wedding. If ever you needed motivation to get in shape it should be this: You are about to be a 40-year-old bridesmaid. In a wedding party of mid-20-somethings. Oh, and the bride? Yea, she's a yoga instructor. Man, I was going to be healthy and thin and gorgeous at that wedding! I mean, how could I fail... I had a year to get ready. Except a year later, there I was looking exactly as I did a year before. Maybe worse (with the exception of my hair and makeup, which a was, if I do say so myself, G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. The result of being literally spray painted). So what went wrong? When I returned to my classroom after Christmas break, eager to welcome in 2017 with my students, we created a Jar of Goals and Blessings. We would write our goals on white paper, blessings that happened along the way on pink, and in June we would open the jar, take out the papers and see how we'd done. The kids were excited and we got right to work setting goals. The conversation naturally turned to what we would do to actually reach those goals, It turned to making plans. Looking back on my own past goals, the ones I reached and the ones I didn't, the true determining factor, the thing that made the difference, was always the same: Did I have a plan? Without a plan, you don't have a goal at all. You have a fleeting hope. Things don't just happen. I didn't magically turn into a super model, even though that was my hope. But I did reach my goal of running a few half-marathons, after loyally following a training plan. Every good English teacher knows the value of the plan. Heck, forests have been sacrificed for the greater good of the graphic organizer! Enter the plan and blue paper: what we do along the way to work towards that goal. Now when I glance across the room at the Jar, I see blue. And after completing this post I'll get to add another blue of my own to the jar. My goal: To Continue. To Share. To Write. My plan: At least twice a month... or when the feeling moves me.
1 Comment
Jennifer Fischer
1/17/2017 06:06:44 am
Your voice is perfect! You need to share this with the world. Get more active on Twitter and share, share, share. You have so much to say, and I think so many others can relate. (And, it doesn't hurt that you are hilarious!)
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AuthorSuzanne Crowley: middle school English teacher, middle child, mid-career, mid-life. And in the middle of it all, mommy. Archives
July 2017
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