Be The Example!

This past weekend, I was invited to a little girl’s birthday party. This little girl is the daughter of a very good friend of mine, so I was invited to the family dinner party as an honourable “Aunty.” Of course …

Orange Island – Healing Journey Day 14

Journal:
Today is the day. I can hardly  believe it. Today is the day that I actually get to take a bite of fruit. Today is the day that I begin a 4-day orange island journey. What is “orange island?” It is where I will eat nothing but oranges for the next 4 days, as many oranges as I want. Now, I haven’t chosen to get so picky as to only select one variety of orange, but instead will be eating a mix of Valencia, Navel and Clementine. I’ve never done a fruit island before, so I’m excited to see what it will be like.

I didn’t get to sleep in this morning as I had a dentist appointment first thing. I was not looking forward to this dentist appointment as – if you remember from last week – there was a spot that grew into a cavity that needs to be fixed underneath an old filling. I could not be seen by the naked eye, but instead would require removing the old filling and replacing it with a new one. This would require a freezing needle, drills, and all of that jazz. However, they scared me enough with the possibility of a future root canal that I had agreed to get this done.

I did not want to go to this appointment with an empty stomach, so I quickly chopped up and ate three valencia oranges. Honestly… it wasn’t all the “fireworks” that I thought it would be. Sure, it was nice to actually have food to eat again, but I think I was just so used to juices at this point that the act of chewing actually took away from my satiation. It’s weird to describe but perhaps it is because you have to eat more to get the same calorie amount as simply opening your mouth and swallowing juice. I’m not sure but I have 4 days of eating oranges to figure it out. Either way, I got some food in my stomach and went to my appointment.

The appointment went well. I didn’t have any pain, but hated the swollen face from the freezing. It actually tired me out to be honest. I did manage to go get groceries after my appointment, but finally had to succumb to a nap when I got home. I was exhausted. Whether it was from stressing about the dentist appointment, or whether it was what my body went through at the dentist, I’m unsure. But I was completely exhausted and slept for a good couple hours.

I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for the upcoming softball tournament with my housemate. We are in charge of the canteen that will be there so there was quite a bit we had to get. Because I work at a SDA school and this is a fundraiser for our school, everything is either vegan or vegetarian. No meat is sold which fits in so nicely with my own beliefs and morals. I’m just hoping the day is going to be a sunny, nice day.

After shopping again, I spent the evening laying around. I was still tired and looked forward to sleep. I didn’t eat near as much as I should have, but with the dentist trip and so much shopping, it was hard to have the time to eat enough oranges. I’m hoping to do better tomorrow.

Review of Symptoms:
-Underate. Went to bed hungry.
-Super tired today.
-Dry air is making me more dehydrated. Need to drink more water.
-No stomach upsets.

Weight at the end of the day = 176.6 (down a total of 12.2 lbs)

Total Calories = 708 (87% carbs, 5% fat, 8% protein)

Today I Walked in the Office and Said “I Quit!”

Ok, so not really. But I did walk in and said that I felt like quitting.

Today was one of those days. Those days where you wish you had never gotten out of bed, that you called in sick, that anything would have happened except what did. Teachers, I’m sure you know the kind of day I’m talking about.

Today I had to deal with something I hoped to never deal with; something that totally broke my heart. Since I don’t have kids of my own, those school kids are so much more like my own children. They are the kids that I try to protect. And when something happens, I immediately attack myself that I did not do a good enough job training and guiding them in life. When something happens, I immediately feel like a failure.

Today was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever had to deal with. So immediately my thoughts were I had failed as a teacher, I had failed as a guide in the life of my student, and I wasn’t fit for my job. What a hit!

Teaching is such a large, tough responsibility. Parenting is a huge responsibility. Any career in which you work with children and youth is a huge responsibility. When working with children, you have to realize that everything you do, they are watching. Anything you do or say, they will carry with them the rest of their lives. What a scary thought!

And as a teacher, you are being entrusted with someone else’s child which carries an extra burden in itself. You strive to be a good influence in their lives. You strive to teach them such great morals in such a small time and when something happens (and it honestly only has to be one thing), you feel as if you’ve failed altogether. Nevermind the fact that you have so many other kids in the class. All it takes is one student, one incident, and you immediately begin to judge yourself.

That’s what I went through today. I wanted to cry. I wanted to quit. I wanted to go home. I wanted to just curl up in a ball and go to sleep so that I could forget about the world around me at that moment. But instead I took deep breaths and did what I needed to do to deal with the situation.

Today was a really hard day.

Fellow teachers, a lot of you have probably dealt with something similar. I feel your pain, I feel your stress. Please know that you are not alone. The devil’s presence is ever near to us and our students, which makes our job ever increasingly important in showing them God’s light and guiding them away from the devil’s tactics and creating their own personal relationships with a Saviour that will be with them always.

Do the best you can and be the role model those kids need. Pray for your students and the choices they will make. It’s the best thing you can really do.