Are we looking at the right part of the Picture?

Like all things that need doing, we want them done now. It is so easy to look at your Goals and think that they’re just too far away and that you’re never going to get there.

I think I have been doing this, big time. It has all been too hard. We weren’t really geting anywhere, well that was my perception anyway.

Reading LG’s recent entry on her Term 1 SMART Goals, I can see that she has been achieving most of what she has wanted to do. My job is to help her do that, to give her the platforms and connections that she needs. And to a certain extent I’ve been doing just that. Yes we still have a few hurdles to get over, but that’s life. So why has it got me thinking we need to do more, and that we haven’t got anywhere.

I think external pressures are coming in to play here. You know those Family/Health issues that we all have to face. I have been playing the role of Carer in my spare time for a long time now. This can range from being a support and helping out, to doing it all and trying to hold all the pieces together.

Recently I’ve had my 3 Children go through some horrendous things. No 1 was involved in a “School Shooting” involving a Crossbow. He was one of the kids that tackled and disarmed the shooter. That was 5 years ago and it’s changed his life, he’s doing it tough. No 2 has done it hard too. He saw his Mum go away in an Ambulance, and she didn’t come back for a long time. This, along with other things, have had a profound affect on him. No 3 had a close friend die of a Heart Attack a couple of years ago, he was 16. Life has dealt the 3 of them a crook hand at times, add to that the on-going Mental Health issues caused by a long term Illness and severe mismanagement of their Mothers condition by local health authorities, and I’m thankful that they are able to function at all.

How has this effected me? I just seem to rise to the challenges. It the strength in me that people keep telling me about. To me I just keep doing what has to be done. And no-where more so than at School. I have a vision for our Students, I have a vision for what Technology, and the 21st Century classroom should be. It’s a part of what keeps me going. It’s something that burns inside of me.

The big task is keeping all of these things in check, keeping that fine balance. When we look at the big picture we need to zoom out at the “whole” then zoom in to magnify what we can do now. Which piece of the puzzle are we working on today. It’s not all going to happen at once. It’s like the way LG eats her Elephant, we need to do it one bite at a time.

Now, I may be about to face a major Health hurdle of my own. I’m looking at the worst case scenario as we are all prone to do. Maybe I need to zoom out and look at the early part of this process too, without going to the nasty end first Like everything else, it will all be a matter of balance.