Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Success Equals...



I was challenged late last week by Scott Haselwood. https://haselwoodmath.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/teaching-from-here/

I was challenged to define Success.

It only took a week and I still am not sure I have my thoughts completely straight. Well, here goes something...

Dictionary.com defines success as:




I never set out to be a teacher. I really did get into it for the summer's off. I got the gig, does that equal success? Turns out that I am pretty decent at the gig. Does that equal success? I have never earned an award, and I do not see a future when this country will ever decide that a teacher should be wealthy due to their hard work. I  do however, want to be a part of the change. I want to contribute. I want to help. Does that equal success

I grew up in three different types of homes. My moms, her boyfriends' (yes, that is the right form of plural) and my dad's house over the summer. Each had their own version of rules. I would say the coming of age years were spent on the wrong side of the tracks or at least the wrong side of decision making. But I am now providing a stable home for my kids and modeling real love with my husband of 11 years for my kids. Success.

I was a high school dropout. Yes, a statistic. But I went back to school, became a teacher, and am now in Grad School working toward a Masters in Ed. Leadership. Success.

I made a million horrible choices as a teenager, maybe even a million and one. But now I help teenagers with their decisions. I walk them through how to talk to their parents...now that I have a parent's perspective. Success

I do not always know what I want to do. Even at the age of 35, I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. And it seems as if I am not as simple with my definition as Merriam Webster. After looking over and over my words, I in my opinion, I am the definition of success. I am flawed, but I think you have to be on the way to success.

I do not anticipate this post will get many hits, but at the end of it, turns out I didn't write it for you.



3 comments:

  1. Wow - I love this! Success truly is different for each person. You also show us that success can come from mistakes (those million and one teenage decisions...)

    Thank you for writing this one!!!!

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  2. I think one of the most important components of success is to strive to Be better, Do better, Evolve. Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs: the future can be better than the present, and that they have the power to make it so. You most certainly are a success.

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  3. Thank you Anne. I challenge you to define "Success".

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