My fourth grade student and I have the same conversation a lot. It goes like this:
"Are we in a rush?"
"No, dear, we're in no hurry at all."
"I thought you wanted me to go fast."
"No, I want you to take your time and do your work correctly."
Sometimes I wish someone would give me the same reminder. When I set out to write this blog post, I didn't want to write about slowing down. The idea of slowing down makes me feel bad. I know how my student feels! She looks around and sees her classmates doing things that she isn't doing or can't do, and she doesn't entirely understand why, and all she wants to do is speed up and catch up and be like everyone else.
But that's not a reasonable expectation. It's more important for her to focus on herself and what she can do than on everyone else and what they can do.
In the same way, though I may feel that my progress in life is slow, though I may look around and see my friends and family doing things that I'm not doing or can't do, it wouldn't be helpful for me to try to speed up and catch up and be like everyone else. That's not a reasonable expectation. It's more important for me to take a breath and focus on myself and what I can do.
I'm not in a rush.
There's no hurry at all.
I can take my time.
It's okay to go slow.
Stay tuned for October 19th: Begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment