Love what you do…

And you’ll never work a day in your life. . .

I have been blessed to find a job that I absolutely love. I was talking to my 7th graders last week about careers and about the stresses that come with some of them. They then asked about my job and said… well yours isn’t very stressful … you just come here and play college games with us.

I had to laugh because yes, indeed when I visit with my middle school students we play games 98 % of the time.

What they don’t know is that once they get to high school we are playing games maybe 25% of the time and working towards college goals the other 75%.

In the shortened version, for those that don’t know me well, I work in a government supported program called, “TRiO”. The division I work in is called “Educational Talent Search”. I visit with students at two middle schools and high schools in the surrounding area that come from first-generation/low income homes to help them reach their goals of attending college in the future.

At least twice a week… sometimes 3 times a week (this week) I will be visiting my students and working with them on goals. Each grade that I work with has a different activity planned for the meeting. So on the days I’m not traveling I’m working on my curriculum for upcoming visits.

Back when I was teaching I loved my students… but I was STRESSED to the max. There is so much pressure from the school boards, principals, other teachings, parents, and the students. In my position now as an advisor the pressure is far less.

I get to come to work everyday and HELP students fulfill their dreams. I get to motivate, educate, and guide them on a path that they may not have taken if not in this program.

What isn’t fulfilling about that…

The secretary today said to me, “I don’t know how you do it?” after seeing my interacting with 8 of my freshman and I just responded, “I don’t think about it, I enjoy every second, and thank god for the patience he has instilled in me.”

I never really get flustered… they are pre-teens and teens… they are supposed to by annoying…

Since I have started this job ( October ) … I haven’t had one bad day. I’m not kicking my feet to the door on Mondays. I’m not looking forward to Friday because it’s the end of the week.

Instead, I’m anticipating which students I get to see this week and there is no better job then that.

Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life…