Change, Change, Change

The one certainty we have going into a new year is that things will change.  What “things?”  We don’t know.  That’s the mystery.  Some of us have specific goals to reach and some will reach them.  But, that doesn’t alter the fact that changes we don’t anticipate will happen.  Count on it.

Change is difficult.  When we’re stressed we may begin walking backward, sighing over good times that are gone.  Of course, those good times look even better when we blur the focus and conveniently forget some of the less-than-good-aspects.  Good or bad, the past will never happen precisely the same way again.  Let it go.  (No, don’t sing that song, please!)  We made choices; the consequences are here–time for new choices.

Some cultures deal with change more comfortably than others.  In the United States, for example, we’re resigned to the fact that prices, health, job opportunities—everything will change.  We hope it’s for the better.  We need to pay attention to make that happen, if it’s going to be possible at all.  In this age of TMI (too much information) there doesn’t seem to be anything that’s simply good or bad.  All information is subject to “spin.”  Plenty of so-called sages hurry to tell us why everything has a black cloud attached.  (I just read an article about why low gas prices are dangerous.  Couldn’t the author let us be happy for a minute???)

In our culture, change is sometimes forced upon us in the name of change.  When I first started teaching, the school district brought in “specialists” (teachers from some other city) to tell us how we could do much better if we taught their way.  We were forced to try.  We hated it.  As I look back, I have to say we were right.  “New” isn’t always better.  Our students did much better before all teachers—even the especially effective ones—were forced to “improve” their methods.  Some teachers who were really good didn’t like being squished into molds created by lesser teachers who had become administrators.  They quit.  These days, nationwide education has adopted the belief that new is always better.  We’ll see.

There’s an old saying that contends that nothing is so bad that you can’t make it better by the way you take it.  If we see our problems as challenges or personal tests and the ornery people in our lives as teachers, we start to see the BIG PICTURE.  Both good and bad will happen.  We need to be ready to be flexible and resilient.  We’ll need to make 2015 into a good year.  Are you in?