If you teach them…..

“A Harvard Professor of Psychology walked around a room full of students while teaching about stress management.

To begin his lecture he grabbed a glass of water and raised it above his head as if he was going to propose a toast, and instantly everyone expected they’d be asked if the glass was half empty or half full as part of the lesson.  Instead though, with a smile on his face, the professor asked "How heavy is this glass of water?”
 Students called out answers "6 ounces" and "10 ounces" but he shrugged them off.

He replied, “The actual weight doesn’t matter. What really matters is how long I've been holding it.  If I hold it for just a minute it feels very light.  If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm.  If I hold it for a whole day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed.  Any longer than that and I will be very tempted to give up and drop it.  In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

The students were all blown away by the simplicity yet truth of this lesson.

However, the professor continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like this glass of water.  Carry them for only a short while and they're manageable.  Worry about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt.

And if we think about them all day long, or longer, we can begin to feel paralyzed and hopeless – incapable of concentrating or focusing on anything else.”

The upcoming year is fast approaching and like the above anecdote, teachers feel paralyzed by the many responsibilities that they will face with their newest students.  Worry never fixes a situation, action does.  Stress is the result of unwarranted worry!  As we walk into this new school year, we must ensure that we don’t hold the glass too long.  We have to plan for situations and have a backup plan, considering the best interest of our students. Once that plan is effectively in place, we have to teach and lead.  Our goal is to make sure that we wake up each day with the intent to teach, the intent to lead by example and the assurances that if we do, our students will grow.