On days when it's hard to be optimistic

I'm going to do it anyway.

At least I will try to still be optimistic.  When I woke up this morning, I remembered that someone close to me had left my life.  It's not fun to wake up to that, or to have lost people who you love.  But I woke up anyway, walked down the stairs and greeted my puppy, who was pretty pumped to see me.  He didn't realize that his mom made the decision to leave me, or that I was grumpy this morning.  He just wanted to see his human and be petted.

Maybe this blog will be the difference between me having a positive and a more negative day.  Either way, I know Jake from State Farm (the dog) helped, and I know that I am committed to giving my best to my students today.  So what can a guy do?  Well, I'm going to greet every student with a smile.  Remember the best things that happened with my ex, and the good that was wrought in the world because of our happiness, fleeting though it may have been.  Then I'm going to turn that into positive outcomes in my classroom.  I have the most math-phobic students in my school, so I will build in them confidence, security, and love of my subject.  Then, at the end of the day, I will do something nice for me.  I'm not sure what that is yet, but I have lots of friends and some family, so maybe I can set up something with one of them.

It's on the bad days that I realize how important it is to remain positive.  I could easily be grumpy all day and put negative stuff in the world, but that would probably lead to grumpy students, me having to call parents and write discipline referrals, and other bad things.  So.  I'll put aside my personal crap, suck it up, and get through the day with my best attitude.  I'll probably have crappy points in my day.  But at least I can start with a positive attitude and pet my dog.

Have a great day all,

Mark