Not much about anything......
I have been needing some good inspiration lately. My schedule went from Costa Rica to straight work from 8am-9:30pm. No breaks, we have had away games every day this week and we have to leave right after lunch, which means I don't even have my prep periods to prepare for school or get things done. I have the same schedule next week, 4 games out of the 5 day school week.
I figure what better place to get some good inspiration than from "Gates of Fire". The book about the battle at Thermopylae. You have to figure when you have a warrior culture like the Spartans you are bound to have some good lessons in there. This particular passage really hit home with me and I think it is what I needed to hear....
"Nothing fires the warrior's heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun and then to dredge not merely from one's own bowles or guts but from one's own discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Deinekes had ever declared the supreme accomplishment of the warrior: to perform commonplace under far-from-commonplace conditions."
That last line is what I am really trying to accomplish, to come in and do a decent job day in and day out, under stressful conditions. I constantly hear colleagues bitch about how hard their job is, these are people who only teach 5 periods a day and are done!! I want to be like "Quit your whining and try my schedule on for size, you wouldn't last a damn week!" Regardless, it is making me stronger and I am going to focus on taking this hard schedule as a blessing. To revel in the fact that I get to work so much and not break, to prove to myself that I can do it day in and day out. Who is the real hero? The real tough guy? The man who gets up everyday and goes to the same job for 50 years to make an honest living....now that takes guts. Will I get praise for keeping this schedule? Na, most people don't even know I do, but I know, and I know what sort of mental fortitude I am building. I know that when the pressure is on I will only strengthen in my character where most may crumble.
This week alone I had to give up going to a concert and a surprise party for my friend because I have to work in the evening at the library. Why don't I call in sick or just not show up like a lot of people here? Do I even have to answer that?
I figure what better place to get some good inspiration than from "Gates of Fire". The book about the battle at Thermopylae. You have to figure when you have a warrior culture like the Spartans you are bound to have some good lessons in there. This particular passage really hit home with me and I think it is what I needed to hear....
"Nothing fires the warrior's heart more with courage than to find himself and his comrades at the point of annihilation, at the brink of being routed and overrun and then to dredge not merely from one's own bowles or guts but from one's own discipline and training the presence of mind not to panic, not to yield to the possession of despair, but instead to complete those homely acts of order which Deinekes had ever declared the supreme accomplishment of the warrior: to perform commonplace under far-from-commonplace conditions."
That last line is what I am really trying to accomplish, to come in and do a decent job day in and day out, under stressful conditions. I constantly hear colleagues bitch about how hard their job is, these are people who only teach 5 periods a day and are done!! I want to be like "Quit your whining and try my schedule on for size, you wouldn't last a damn week!" Regardless, it is making me stronger and I am going to focus on taking this hard schedule as a blessing. To revel in the fact that I get to work so much and not break, to prove to myself that I can do it day in and day out. Who is the real hero? The real tough guy? The man who gets up everyday and goes to the same job for 50 years to make an honest living....now that takes guts. Will I get praise for keeping this schedule? Na, most people don't even know I do, but I know, and I know what sort of mental fortitude I am building. I know that when the pressure is on I will only strengthen in my character where most may crumble.
This week alone I had to give up going to a concert and a surprise party for my friend because I have to work in the evening at the library. Why don't I call in sick or just not show up like a lot of people here? Do I even have to answer that?