Flip the Switch

In a room with a lot of light, a dark spot doesn't have too much of an impact, however, in a dark room, just a little bit of light makes all the difference in the world. I'll admit, I am my own worst critic and my first inclination when things go wrong is to look at the dark side of things. I will stew and lament and really get in a rut. I do this not because I'm a negative person, but rather, because I'm my own worst critic and darkness has a way of consuming a person and keeping them down and out. What if it didn't have to be this way, though?

We all have moments where things don't go our way and we get into such a funk that it seems impossible to get out of it. We crave just a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel so we know that we can overcome our struggles and get out of the dark. The difficulty in this is that sometimes this is compounded by the fact that everything is dark around us and there doesn't appear to be a light switch anywhere. The solution to this may involve those around us.

School cultures are a tricky thing. As educators, we are expected to drop our baggage at the door and be there for our students. The problem this creates is an intense feeling of loneliness and isolation that takes an emotional toll on our own mental and physical health. The reality is that while we all go through our own personal battles of darkness as educators, we are the light for many of our students who need guidance in their own darkness. We make a conscious and intentional decision to flip the switch even though we may be struggling ourselves with our own personal baggage.

The crazy thing about this is that while we have no problems doing this for our kids, we don't necessarily follow the same practice with all of our colleagues. Sure, we have our core group of people that we work with that we will do anything for, but we reserve the right to flip the switch on/off depending on the circumstances and the people involved. What if, however, we just kept the switch ON all of the time and created a wealth of light for everyone? Instead of holding our colleagues to standards and expectations that seem, at times, unrealistic and uncompromising, we practiced a little grace and understood that we sometimes don't know what is going on behind the curtain that is driving people to not rise up to the occasion. What if each of us made a personal decision to flip the switch and drowned out the darkness for others?

The challenge ahead of us is real. Education is a tough business and is under high levels of scrutiny all of the time, especially from people who have never done the job and are only relying on their own personal school experience. We don't get paid what we should, we have unrealistic and daunting expectations piled onto us, and the circumstances that students bring to school everyday are unprecedented. In spite of all of this, we show up, we work hard, and we make an impact on our students. Now is the time to do this for our colleagues as well. Choose to be a light and flood the room around you with it. If we all make this commitment, darkness doesn't have a lot of places to hide.

#Onward