I am a very reflective person, and many times this can be a bad thing because I can overanalyze and read too much into things.  I spend a lot of time thinking about why things worked or didn’t work so I can either repeat success or cut my loses and learn from my mistakes.  I implement this in my classroom all the time, allowing kids to do test and quiz corrections so that they can look over their mistakes and improve.  If I’m not thinking about why things didn’t work I worry about repeating my failures.

What’s nice about being reflective is also looking back on growth and getting the chance to recognize it and give myself a little pat on the back (and yes I often times physically pat myself on the back, you got to!)  It’s so easy to get lost in the rat race and feel like you’re running on a treadmill, wondering if all this hard work is worth it, am I going anywhere?  It’s important to toot your own horn every so often, give yourself a little “You go girl!”or boy, ya know, if there are some reading this 🙂 I think it’s important to look back and say “dang, I’ve grown so much since then!”.

We all need to do this more often, we need to toot our own horns, pat ourselves on the back and be proud.  I don’t think you need to go over the top but I mean we need to feel good about what we do.  It’s your life and if you work hard, then give yourself a little “woot woot” (see video below of brother), do your dorky success dance, pat yourself on the back, whatever you have to do to make it feel worth it.  For me, when I’m feeling a little proud and I’m alone (I’m not usually one to brag) I do a combination of a super dorky dance (channel Chandler from Friends) with a good little woot woot.

For me when I look back on this crazy journey so far I think geez, four years ago, I was starting this blog as a way to force myself to explore Richmond, a scary new home.  Three years ago I actually dedicated myself to learn Manual mode and thought “Omgosh this is so much to think about!” (it was really hard at first to get used to) Now Manual mode feels like I finally have control.  I’m not saying everything is perfect, I still have a lot to learn (about tons of stuff), but that’s kind of the exciting part.  I mean if I knew everything and didn’t have anymore growth in me, then that means I wouldn’t have any more dorky pats on the back left in my future.  I’m looking back, smiling about my growth and looking forward in the hopes for more!  More imperfect moments to learn from, more challenges that strengthen me and becoming a better person than I am today.

So get out there, hop off the work treadmill and make it feel worth it by cheering yourself on, looking at mistakes as just learning opportunities and grow from them.  Easier said than done, but hey we can at least try.