“You know my name, not my story. You’ve heard what I’ve done, not what I’ve been through.” Jonathon Anthony Burkett
Your alarm clock sounds. Your thoughts are racing as your body tries to catch up and get up. It’s 4:30 in the morning. Everybody is still sleeping. You are exhausted. You can’t stop thinking about all the things you have to do, real and imagined.
Take note of how your mind is spinning, reeling. Do you have a hold of your day or are you controlled by the tick-tock, tick-tock of the clock? Never enough time to visit classrooms. Not enough time with family, and when home your attention is consumed thinking about work, conflicts, and what wasn’t wrapped up. Maybe some anxiety is filling your cup.
Morning is like an adrenaline rush of panic and a racing heart. Nighttime is even worse.
When the day slows down you think, “My mind’s flipping through its agenda assessing what I did wrong, missed, forgot, and the piles of work I have yet to attack.”
Take a Minute: “How would you feel if someone outside really started talking to you the way your inner voice does? How would you relate to a person who opened their mouth to say everything your mental voice says? After a short period of time, you would tell them to leave and never come back. But when your inner voice continuously speaks up, you don’t ever tell it to leave. No matter how much trouble it causes, you listen.”
“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice in your mind – you are the one who hears it. If you don’t understand this, you will try to figure out the many things the voice says is really you. People go through so many changes in the name of “trying to find myself.” They want to discover which of these voices, which of these aspects of their personality, is who they really are. The answer is simple: none of them.”
Michael A. Singer Quotes, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
Our inner voice – our conscience – can be our best processing center, or it can be our ultimate nemesis. It’s those ‘other inner’ voices speaking to our conscience that cause the doubting, questioning, and lamenting about the ‘what ifs’ that can drive us over the cliffs of ‘craziness’. It leaves us disbelieving ourselves, wondering what voice we should listen to inside our cranium.
Anxiety, deep breathing, become the norm in your mindful storm.
Maybe you are slaying this alter ego with alcohol, sleeping pills, Ambien, angry outbursts, or tears of what feels like a shallow meaningless life. One day running into the next; out of your control. Stuck, feeling like the degrees you earned to make a difference in this world was all for naught.
Well, it does not have to be this way. Worst case scenario, you work with negative people and that isn’t going to change, ever! Then, get the hell out and move on to another place. A fresh environment where you can put the best of you to doing good work for good people. But truly, most people are good folk. In most cases time can be taken to take note, make change, and improve a school culture, professional relationships, and personal satisfaction.
You are not a victim.
You are not a slave to your position. What you are is a reasonable, thinking person full of excitement, drive, ambition, some doubt, and reluctance at times. Your next days are unknown. You have an adventure waiting for you. Only God knows what will unfold.
Many worry, ponder, and speculate about a future, time not yet written. You may choose to defend yourself along the way or you may choose to embrace the unknown. Let the voice within be your support, your champion, your best friend … if not, tell it to get lost!
Your inner voice is not you, but it can be your backbone. You have decisions to make. Is your inner voice going to be your nemesis? Or is your inner voice going to be your advocate? Bottom-line, time is now. You must decide if you will be a victim, or you will take charge of your mindset, your circumstance, and your life.
Your life is not intended to be on the string of a marionette. You are not Pinocchio. You are an independent, loving, thoughtful person wanting to enhance the life of others.
Embrace your life – your time – and learn to enjoy school again.
Take care, my friend 👍
