As the month began, I was in a grove. I was weight lifting, eating well, and meal planning.
Then I got injured.
I thought if I took a few days off, it would get better. So I took some time off and continued to eat as if I were on track. In fact, I was enjoying my hot chocolate so much every night that my husband could predict exactly the voice I would use when saying “hoooonnnneeeyyy” for hot chocolate. Luckily, my husband is the best and made it for me every time. But I digress…
I finally got frustrated enough that I just worked out anyway, which seemed to miraculously heal my back. Not really, but I felt well enough to continue. The problem was, I had gained quite a bit of weight and I was feeling pretty awful. So, I needed to get myself in check and do something that contributed to my mental health again.
I chose running.
We already had a race day scheduled. My husband and I got a kick in the pants to get our training on. So after searching for training plans, we settled on one that would kick our butts. It did. Like really did.
On Monday morning, I was fueled with coffee and dreams. Yet, I struggled to make it through 2 miles. We were scheduled for 3. I cried through the entire 2 miles, beating myself up for how out of shape I was. I came in the house and bawled while I stretched, my husband helplessly looking on. I realize that I do what I always do…beat myself up when I’m not perfect at them right away. It got me thinking…why did I think this would be easy?
Why do we think anything will be easy? Why do we think that educating children will be easy? Why do we think dealing with parents will be easy? Why do we think that keeping track of 20-35 kids progress will be easy? Why do we think life will be easy?
It shouldn’t be. We are growing, changing and aspiring to be more daily. We are literally changing people’s minds. Our job is to inspire others and take care of ourselves. Why should that be easy? It shouldn’t, it won’t be and the suffering sometimes comes from thinking it should be.
As I pushed through the ending lap on mile 5 this week, I finally remembered why it felt good to do hard things. Then you can revel in your accomplishment. You can smile and realize that when you collapse at the end of the day, you earned it.
Teaching is life’s work. It should be hard. We are amazing every day we complete it.