“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Chinese Proverb
2014 is coming upon us and I am thinking about some of the goals that I have for the upcoming year. As many people do, I will focus on something that has to do with my health, my career, and those that surround me. It is great to look back at what you have done in the past and reflect upon the year, and as each new year comes, I am excited about what lies ahead.
As the year comes, and in everyday life, I hear this saying often:
Everything happens for a reason.
I believe this more than you would ever know but I have always felt that the saying was missing something. In my opinion, it should be something like this:
Everything happens for a reason, but you will need to do something with what lies before you.
Years ago, I was unhappy in my career and was ready to quit education. I hated teaching and a new profession seemed that it was on the horizon. Due to some unforeseen events, I ended up getting a job in a new district and in my head, decided to give it one more year. Since I was totally new to my district, I decided that with this new opportunity I was going to reinvent myself.
It started simply with wearing a tie to work everyday. I know that it seems very simple, but that one little change made me feel something different. With that little change, bigger changes happened within me, and although within one short year I became a school administrator (which I had never envisioned), I came to a place where teaching was not a career, but a passion. Many of those mindset changes that I made that year I continue to do today. Because of that year, I have always seen change as an opportunity, even when it comes out of something bad. It takes a lot of work to see it, but when you do, your life can become that much better, but it depends on what you are looking for. Change is hard but it is a lot harder to deal with when we choose to do nothing.
So if everything happens for a reason, what will you do with the opportunity that lies before you?
