Ch-Ch-Changes

Go ahead and get that song in your head...thanks Bowie.

This year has brought a lot of ch-ch-changes in my direction.  As posted in an earlier entry, I've been changing lots of things in my life.  I'll let you in on a secret (one that isn't a secret at all to those who know me well)...I FREAKING HATE CHANGE.

That's right.  Hate. It.

I know it's "inevitable".  I know that "we have to do it".  I know it all.  Throw those cliched phrases at me, I've heard them all.

In the past three weeks, I've made the biggest "change" of my life since 2008 (when I began teaching).  For the past seven years, I've been at the same high school.  I've lived within a 30 mile radius of my school.  So, it was a huge decision to leave Rockingham High School.  One that I prayed about.  One that I sill pray about.

But tomorrow, I officially begin my tenure at Mt. Tabor High.  I'm excited and nervous and scared and all sorts of emotions.  I keep on thinking about the movie "Inside Out" and imagine that my emotions are all aflutter and hopping all over the place in my brain!

I can fret and worry and freak out all I want to.  It's not going to stop the tide of change.  The best I can do it learn how to catch the wave and try my best not to get pulled under.  This isn't to say that I'm not going to feel like I'm drowning half the time.  However, I know I have God, my family, and my friends throwing out the lifesavers and helping me swim to shore.

All I can do is learn to embrace it, learn from it, and pray about it.

There's a beautiful quote from the film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (side note...this was originally a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but this particular quote was not in the novel):

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be.  There's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you're not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again."

I love this quote because it reminds me to not be afraid of change.  When a person neglects change or when they look the other way, they're missing all the great things that come with that special gift.  It's scary as hell, but it allows a person to experience new things, to meet new people, to learn and grow and see and feel.  It is a good thing.  So I'm going to try to "make the best of it".  I'm going to get to know people "with a different view".  But most of all, I'm going to "live a life I'm proud of."

Cheers to change.