As a 🍎teacher, I had opportunities to attend many professional development sessions and conferences. Some were unremarkable- just time spent with colleagues but no new information. Others gave lessons that transcended from the classroom to life.✨ One presenter talked about students in public schools. He said that parents were sending us the 🥇best kids they have. They aren’t saving the good ones at home.😂 He told us to remember that as we interacted with all of our kids, they were the 🥇best ones.
I understood what he meant. Because of my specific classes, I often had students for most or all of their middle school years.🎉 As a result, I saw firsthand the best versions of my kiddos change from year to year. Maturity transformed them as time passed. Those bests might even 🔀shift daily. Middle schoolers- like the rest of us- are works in progress.👍🏻
I believe that everyone is bringing their 🥇best versions. We don’t always 👀see it that way, though. It all boils down to expectations. We might expect more from people. We might want more. We might even need more. But they can only give what they can give. They can only meet us as deeply as they’ve met themselves.💥
That’s true for all of us, don’t you think? I don’t know about you, but I have changed, evolved, and grown in so many ways over my lifetime.🙌 I’m really proud of that, too. I wouldn’t want to be the same person I was years ago. I’ve learned things and had experiences that made me a better person. 🥰The goal is to keep doing that so I meet myself a little deeper every day. The more I learn, the more I can give.👍🏻
Because we all grow and change at different rates through personal challenges and opportunities in life, it’s often difficult to accept that someone else isn’t where you want them to be. If you can get there- if you understand that people are giving what they can give- that’s when peace comes.✨ Drop the expectations of others because those are yours- not theirs.✨ People can only meet you as deeply as they’ve met themselves- and that’s okay.💖
sharing the stairs 