Friday, May 4, 2012

Stop Saying "I Am Not"

Today one of my students said.  "I can't do this.  It's too hard."  And I said, "Those are not the same thing.  If it's hard, it doesn't mean you can't do it.  It means you have to work at it."  Now I find myself confronted with that reality in my own activities.

I am not a marketing person.  I am not an event planner.  I am not a cheerleader.  And yet, I find myself called upon to do these things.  I am a writer.  But to get my work published, I have to be a PR person.  I am a teacher.  However, being a teacher means not only teaching children, but also serving on committees, providing leadership, organizing school events and publicizing them.  Maybe I should stop saying "I am not."

Is there any job or vocation in this world that doesn't call upon you to do things that fall outside your areas of strength or comfort?