Hey you... Don't give up.

I was watching "The Bachelor" tonight. This show seriously just makes me laugh because they are saying on public television what we have all said in our heads at some point or another. About a first date or being nervous or wondering what someone is thinking. I mean it is, in the most unreal sense, real. One of the things I have loved about this season is the fact that when girls don't feel like it's working, they understand that Ben (the Bachelor) takes this seriously and they volunteer to leave. I don't remember another season where they have done that with so much grace, but I'm glad they are. And I'm glad that Ben doesn't feel like he has to make up something to keep them there. He lets it go on. Their giving up is not actually giving up... it is letting something go to pursue something better and allowing the other person involved to pursue something better.

I had an eventful, really super fun weekend and felt like going back to school tomorrow could be a drag. My kids will be excited because, despite what they say, they hate staying home and being bored and a lot of them will have worked all weekend so they will basically need a nap or two tomorrow.

One of my girls messaged me today and told me how difficult it would be this semester. This sweet one is up against some hard circumstances and tough realities. She's fighting a reality that she doesn't want for herself but is also making choices based on consequences of other choices. (I know this seems confusing but I would never want her to feel like I'm telling her whole life story, even though she would willingly tell you herself.) My heart hurts for her and I can see her getting to the edge and having to make a choice as to what to do next while lacking the support she needs to move on and start over and keep MAKING herself do hard things. She said, "Thanks Ms. G" and my response was "That's what I'm here for!" We are here to help people do hard things. To not give up.

Another one of my friends, who's also a teacher, asked me Friday, "Do you ever just wonder whether this is your calling or not?" She was referring to teaching and I told her, yes, all the time. Last semester, it felt like there were a few weeks where it was every day weeks in a row. It was reassuring that she wasn't the only one who felt like that. It is easy to get burned out and let things that don't matter get to us.

I've questioned something totally different most of yesterday and today. I struggled to be totally myself but also questioned whether I was myself and if myself was good enough. Kristi, my big sister/mentor/friend/advisor, sent me this quote from E.E. Cummings: "To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to the fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting."

It is okay to stay true to myself when things work out and when they don't. When things feel good and when they don't. When things go well and when they don't.

So I just want to tell you-- Hey you, don't give up. If it's your first day back to college, your first day of a new semester, your 'Monday,' your worst day, the longest day, or the best day. Let things go to move forward and take new adventures and have new beliefs that you don't have to give up something to be yourself. And if something is to be given, let is be something that needs to go and replace it with something so you.

-Melis