'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.' This saying has never resonated with me more than this current moment in time as an NQT. Busy marking assessments, logging data, deadlines drawing near, making telephone calls home, logging behaviour comments and not to mention the famous never ending to do list that keeps miraculously growing! Life seems as if it is passing by at an alarming rate. But it is in these difficult moments as teachers, from all schools and subjects, that we take a minute and remember. Remember the why. We forget that the business of educating our youth, is no easy task. It is in fact our resilience and the love for what we do, and who we do it for, that does get us through. I have found it is important to take a moment to reflect. A moment to appreciate the impact we have and make. Whether it’s a smile we greet our students with as they enter our classroom door, a kind comment to our colleagues as we pass them on the corridors and above all a kind comment to ourselves. So to all who read this (myself included) you are amazing at what you do and you deserve to be congratulated. Well done. Well done for making it through because today it was a tough day, well done for getting through the lesson with that difficult class, well done for having the tenacity to keep going because as teachers that is what we are. We are tenacious. We are resilient. We are enthusiastic and we are so much more! We love what we do and who we do it for. Conscientiously, we plan our lessons, teach our content relentlessly and we manage to do all this with a smile on our face, we keep going. We are the epitome of nurtures, carers, and most importantly intellects. Deservingly, take the time to call the friend you’ve been wanting to meet up with for weeks, go for the long walk you promised yourself (I’m waiting for summer) make that pizza you promised your little one you would make with them, or finish the book you’ve had on your bedside cabinet collecting dust! You will find your mind and body thanking you. Prioritise yourself and you will find everything else will fall into order. This has been an acquired strategy that has got me through the challenging moments of being an NQT. ‘Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges.’
