Just a Little Extra

My mom introduced me to the most fabulous blog. Many of you have probably heard of her before but if not, please don't miss it! Check out Glennon Doyle Melton's blog, Momastery. Her super power is WORDS. Oh my! Her words have such POWER. She has this way of blending words together to create these powerful messages that are thought-provoking, gut-wrenching, dynamic pieces of ART.

As a teacher you've probably seen this post floating around Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. I love her message to teachers. She "gets it." Read it, if you haven't already.

My personal favorite of her posts is how Disney's Frozen is the Story of our Lives. Upon looking at the title, I honestly thought it was a little silly. I mean, how in the world are our lives like a Disney movie?

Let me preface this by saying that I have a 4 and 2 year old. We know ALL of the words to ALL of the songs by heart - including Mr. T. He is a big fan of the music! We have read the book too many times to count. We even watch the song clips on YouTube (Mr. T's idea!). We haven't seen the movie yet (yes, I know . . . we are probably the only ones) but I feel like I know the story pretty well and could tell it to anyone who asked.

When I started reading her post, I thought *OH MY GOSH! THIS IS ME*. How did she nail it? How did she know? I have always had anxieties and worries but could never put a "name" to it. I don't have the same story as Glennon but I have had feelings inside of me since I was little that I couldn't explain. I always thought of these feelings as a burden; a hindrance; an obstacle. I always thought I had to learn how to "get over them" or "move past them."

Little did I know, that one day I would read some powerful words that would change the way I look at myself.

Now that is something I can work with! The thought that I could USE these feelings (or my *Extra* as Glennon so beautifully calls it) for GOOD is amazing. I can channel this energy for things that matter and be ME. I can finally let some things go . . .

Pretty powerful stuff, right?

And I KNOW that a lot of teachers carry these burdens . . . anxieties . . . worries. 

We want to help. We want to solve. We want to shape. The thought that maybe we failed is hard! The thought that maybe we let someone down is hard! The thought that we let ourselves down is almost unbearable! We feel pulled at school, at home, with family, with friends . . . because we want to be there for everyone.

But I also want to point out that the children in our classroom may be having the SAME EXACT FEELINGS. So what can we do?

We can PAY ATTENTION.
We can LISTEN to them.
We can READ between the lines.
We can PRAY.
We can LOVE them.
We can SHOW UP with a SMILE.
We can EMBRACE their EXTRA and find ways to help them channel their SUPER POWER.

Well Glennon . . . thank you for putting what I cannot into WORDS. Your post was a blessing to me. I'm thankful you are EXTRA.