Puzzles

Team,

I did one of the hardest things I had ever done a few days ago; actually, it took five days to finish. There was anger, frustration, things flying around the room, hope, joy, and finally elation.

I completed a puzzle.

It was the first puzzle I have completed entirely by myself. That may sound crazy, but for a man with self-diagnosed ADHD, doing a puzzle was torture. I couldn't keep on the same group of puzzle pieces to save my life. I'd get one to fit, then see another section of the board and move over there...then I'd repeat the process over and over again. I'm sure if someone was with me, their frustration over my style of puzzle building would have pushed them over an edge.

When I finished the puzzle, it did make me pause for a moment of satisfaction. The puzzle was complete and finished. I was joyful.

In some ways, the puzzle has felt like this school year. You see the complete picture on the box of what it's "expected" to look like, then you dump out the pieces, and the challenge begins. Sometimes you get on a roll, and the pieces are almost like magnets coming together with ease....then, at other moments, you are so frustrated you flip the board and give up!

Yet, one piece at a time, one moment at a time, you slowly work through it and come to a final product and experience completion.

We are in the middle of the puzzle-building process right now....we are experiencing some blissful moments when our lessons, activities, classroom management all line up smoothly and with ease. Life itself feels like it is rolling along like a Limp Biscuit song from the '90s.

Then, almost like a switch is flipped, there are stretches where it feels like nothing is working....you give up your plan for the third day in a row, the papers you needed to get copied are still undone, a student or two is challenging, your personal life is complicated. That is the moment you want to flip the puzzle board......

So, where are you right now....is the puzzle fitting together smoothly, or are you in a time of challenge and need.

Take a moment to assess your head and heart. If you need support, don't hesitate to utilize the SHSD resources. Talk to a colleague or friend and reach out.

The work we do is hard. We work with people...big and little people and who can bring joy and difficultly.

In all things, the better we treat each other in the little daily interactions, the better off our school and students will be. The kindness we spread comes back around.

When we pause and work to do one thing...and do that one thing well, we start to build upon successes. Start small, start simple, one piece at a time.

Keep loving kids, and see y'all soon!

Trevor

PS....Not sure I'll ever do a puzzle again; it's not worth it.