Every End is a New Beginning

Do you know what a teacher's favorite day is? The last day of school before summer vacation! Today is that day for me. It marks the end of my 10th year as an elementary teacher. But just like every ending, it is the beginning of something new. Each day for the next two months, I get to take care of my own two children instead of 23 children that aren't mine! That should be so much easier, right? One would think...

So why is it that I enter summer vacation with a small amount of hesitation? The answer: Change is hard! Even if I know that the new "schedule" is going to be amazing, I also know that it will have its challenges. During the school year, I can squeeze in runs after work before I pick the boys up from daycare. I can ride my bike or run to baseball practice. I can multitask with the best of them in order to fit in a workout. But then...I enter the lazy, relaxed days of summer when I am a full time mom and there is no "squeezing in" a workout when the boys aren't with me. They're with me every waking moment! Summer months mean that my level of discipline has to reach a new level. 2-3 mornings a week I will be up with the sun, hitting the road for a run, and back home before the house is awake. My new schedule will mean earlier wake ups than during the school year in order to keep up my fitness. (Insert deep breathe.)

We all worry about the new, unknown, and different ventures that our lives bring us. Reluctance to dive in head first into a new beginning is normal. They say children thrive on routine; I don't think that we as adults are any different. It is easy to keep doing what we're doing, and what we've always done. Change is hard. New is hard. Different is hard. But sometimes we need to reset our thinking. Reset our goals. And come up with a new game plan.