Frustration, Walls, and a Different Kind of Patience

Some days it can be hard to follow advice you would probably give your own children or students. The idea of staying positive, persevering, reflecting, learning, and staying focused on goals can seem difficult and abstract when dealing with a little dose of disappointment. You know it's the right play - the correct course of action. And deep down, you know it's true, because come on...who likes the alternative? Exactly.

So, even when you find out you're not moving on through an interview process on something you're excited about and your day is looking a bit bleak early on, you power through. The reason is really simple - there's work to be done. Students are coming through your door (or clients are calling, colleagues are in need, bosses are asking for things) and they need you mentally in the game. Even with whatever else is going on, the other people in your life need your focus, energy, commitment, etc.

And truthfully, the more I think about it, this is exactly why the advice mentioned above is given to children, students, athletes, and anyone else on a learning journey. We all go through this type of stuff all the time. So I ran into a bit of a wall with this news this morning. It's not the first wall I've hit, and it most certainly will not be the last. There's a skill, elegance, and certain power and that comes with saying "alright, what's next?" For me, what always seems to be a lift is when I look to how I can lift others - students, colleagues, family, etc.

What I also need to do is practice a different type of patience from the one I discussed yesterday. Not a patience in dealing with preteens approaching Spring Break, but patience with what's to come. Knowing, understanding, and accepting that I can control only so much, and that putting best effort and work into things is what it's all about...and then letting go and trusting things from that point.

To make things better, the universe always has it's ways of giving what might be needed. Within a short amount of time from receiving the bummer news, I had lovely words of encouragement from my lovey and talented wife; I got an email and started going back forth with a coach and mentor from high school; and my son texted us to share his news of scoring 100% on his math test. All in all, not too bad of a day... ;)