It’s a plan, Stan

Happy Thursday everyone!

I hope you all are having a tremendous Friday-eve.

As promised, I wanted to update you on some exciting breaking new developments that are shaking up my world as of late. As you all know, I have been struggling to find a job for the past two months or so. It has been quite the long road, full of potholes, construction delays and gnarly hills (stick shift VW bug + steep slopes = headache in a hand bag!) but through it all, I have been persistent and optimistic, hoping that the next application I put out would be the one. I have gotten very close, becoming one of the final candidates for the gig on a lot of job offers, only to be told that they “decided to go in another direction.” I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to make it that far, to see the job in your sights and to have it in your grasp, just to be given a rejection email or phone call, leading me to start the whole process all over again. Ish.

In all of this craziness, that has been some positives about not working. One of these positive things that I have been given is an abundance of time. Time to do some of the things I couldn’t when I was working. Time to focus on myself for a bit. Time to think. I have spent the last two months really doing some soul-searching. Not in the Where’s Waldo sense, but more of an introspective of my life; what I have done in the past, where it may be going in the future, what I want it to be like, and how I can get to that point. The marketing and advertising world is so fascinating. It is a world that I have been fortunate to be a part of for at least a little while, to learn from and to showcase my creative skills. However, it is also a world that is very cut-throat (something this chica is sooooo not–I think snakes have a bigger back bone than me, something that is almost always required when working in this biz), cynical and demanding. It is a world that I wasn’t happy in. It is a world that I was ready to leave behind.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to become a teacher. Much of this came from the fact that I was lucky enough to have had such instrumental and influential teachers in my life growing up. They instilled and stirred in me a passion for learning, for growing and for achieving my goals and dreams, no matter how outlandish they may have been. They made every day in the classroom an adventure, one to look forward to, to enjoy and to hold on to and take home, well after the final bell for the day had rung (magic school bus or not, Ms. Fizzle has nothing on my former teachers). I took this passion for learning and became a tutor, first when I was in high school, then continuing through college where I was an English and writing tutor, and finally now as I am currently working part-time with students all over the Milwaukee area, helping to guide and mentor them in all areas of academia. There is no greater satisfaction then working with kids, seeing them progress from the beginning to the end, tackling challenges and overcoming learning obstacles that before, held them back from reaching their full potential. When the light bulb finally goes off, when they have that ‘Ah ha’ moment, it makes all the hard work worth it. Showing a student that they can do anything they put their minds to, building their self-esteem, giving them the tools and skills they need to succeed both in and outside of the classroom and having fun is truly what being a teacher is all about.

After a lot of thinking…

 

Mr. Thinker

I have decided to take a leap. A leap that I should have taken a long time ago.

I have decided to go back to school and get my teaching certificate to become, finally, a bonefied, full-fledged, corny-sweater wearing teacher, grades K-6 to be exact. I can’t tell you how excited I am that I finally am going for what I want and doing this thang. I am a bit nervous of course; it has been a while since I graduated college and have had to hit the books, but I am also looking forward to waking up everyday with a purpose, with an objective, with a goal to learn and much as I can to become the best teacher I can. I am currently knee-deep in the application process and am planning to officially start in January; a new year, a new start.

I sincerely believe that everything happens for a reason. God has a plan for each and every one of us. A great plan. Sometimes he takes us on a journey that we didn’t expect. Sometimes he throws some wicked curve balls at us and leaves us wondering ’why?’. However, I really think he does these things to build our faith,  to make us stronger and to show us what we truly want in life, what we are talented at and what we have to offer the world.

It has been quite the ride, but I have got to say, I am looking forward to whatever may come next. It’s never too late to go after what you want. Start right now. Dream it. Do it.