What have I learnt?

Now that everything is back up to date (in one simple and hopefully easy to read blog), its time for the thinking and inspirational blogs to begin again....

If the journey I have been on this year has taught me anything, it is most certainly the following three things:

1. Love, love, love
2. Have faith in yourself and what you are going through,
3. When you face trials in your life, don't give up but instead make the most of each situation

This year has been one of challenge, education, dreaming, expectation, thinking, realising, failure, learning, opportunities, reminiscing, admitting  building up, falling down, getting back up again, remembering, experience, change, difficulties, creating memories, making traditions, moving on, marking the path for our future and so much more.

In our very last lecture of the semester (and more excitingly, our degree), I felt like I was back in High School and being spoken to by a whole lot of teachers and school leaders from the last few years... 

"thank you for being here.... congratulations ... you have made it this far.... good luck for the future....we've equipped you, now go out there... make the most of it...you're almost there... you will make fantastic teachers..."

One of our lecturers read out a snip-it of a text to us. At first to be honest I just thought,here we go again but to be honest, one of the most powerful sentences he read out in that snip-it will literally stick with me forever....

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want..."

(Dan Stanford)

This year has certainly not been easy and at times I have felt like giving up - I wanted to give up on my teaching career because of experiences from this year, at times I've wondered how life would be if I wasn't married, I have wondered how and why I am where I am today, I have wanted to turn back time, I have wanted to fast forward on so many occasions and not face what I have needed to....

As soon as our lecturer read out this particular sentence and quote from Dan Stanford, I felt my eyes well up and turned to look at one of my best friends - Rachel Macintosh, who I had talked to on many occasions this year when things were not going so smoothly. My eyes welled up (just as I feel they are about to now) as I realised how true this quote/statement is. This year has been a far from easy year and I've made so many mistakes and there are so many times like I said where I have wanted to turn back or fast forward time but if I had the ability to have done one or both of those options, I would have missed out on so many experiences from this year. 

My practicum experience in May and June was hard and so many mornings I woke up and just wanted to give up - not even go to school. I went to call university and drop out of teaching, I asked to change schools but for some reason it didn't happen, I questioned my previous experiences and whether I had deserved to pass or not, I fully thought I would not graduate with my teaching degree because of everything happening, I had a major meltdown, I cried in the staff room or classrooms at lunchtime but every weekday for eight weeks I went to school and stuck it out. I admit it was not always my best effort but I did it. Things did not go my way - the way I wanted them to but I most certainly got the experiences I required for my future teaching career. 

Now I am in a much better and stronger place in my teaching career - have almost finished, have an incredible practicum ahead and am awaiting a fantastic teaching career knowing that I have had a vast range of practicum experiences that will equip me well for the future :)