It's that time of year again. Days start to go by faster and before you know it, the school year has snuck up on us! We're missing days at the beach or nights on the lake and reminiscing about the fun things we did this Summer. What felt like just a few weeks times was apparently a couple of months. What felt like weeks to prepare now feels like fleeting days in a rush to snag school supplies. How does it always seem to go by so quickly?
Whether you're a teacher, an administrator, a student, or a parent; you're feeling the nerves of another new year. Change is inevitable, adjustment is necessary, and everyone seems to be on edge. It as if no matter how much we mentally prepare, we're just not prepared. Suddenly, we start to realize just how much has changed over the Summer- kids have gotten taller, personalities have gotten bigger, or maybe everything you thought you were walking into this year has been put in a blender. We all feel it this time of year, there's excitement with a touch of anxiety and if we're honest, some us are just plain confused. Before we even have time to process what's happening, we're packing lunchboxes, filtering through clothes that don't fit, and trying to remember how we managed to do all of this last year.
It's exciting, sure! These are big moments, big memories that we don't want to miss. We're thankful for these days because they're the days we build upon to make something even greater. These are the days we never get to relive, the days we'll never see again. Somehow, we're lucky enough to call them "ours" for the little time we have that privilege. These days are ours to do with whatever we please, and unfortunately we've already missed so many of them because of stress, distractions, and so many other reasons. So try to prepare, try to be ready; but spoiler alert, you're just not ready. And that's okay. We're rarely "ready" for the best moments of our lives, but they come anyway. So while we do our best to steward these days well, let's take the pressure off to be "ready", to be the A+ mom and the PTO queen. Support your kids, your teachers, your students...but take the pressure off. Instead, let's be present in the big things AND the little things. Let's be faithful to show up physically, and mentally. Let's be kind to ourselves this year, because kindness counts.
Your children, students, or loved ones will learn to be kind by watching the way you treat yourself...and then how you treat others. Kindness counts from the little things to the big things and everything in between. Kindness is celebrating the small wins and having grace for the the moments we fumble through. Kindness looks like the way we speak to ourselves when nobody else is around and the words we extend publicly. Little eyes are watching and little ears are listening, until one day they're not so little anymore. Then, those seemingly small habits are theirs too.
Kindness counts. Not only for others, but also for you.
-Brandi Payne
