CHALLENGES TO MAKE OR BREAK RELISH AT WORK

The author is Master Teacher

LEIZEL G. SAHIBIL

I have always been focused on students’progress and achievement. Multitude of tasks kept me going each day and it made days seem like the fastest train one could have ever galloped. In each day of being a physical and health fitness teacher, an art instructor and a hopeful artist, I have tremendously learned and realized the abyss of reality. That is, I should be working on enhancing my social life, too.

Through years of roadblocks, I felt that I became weaker. I made myself indifferent of others’judgment and assertions. I have kept away from my closest friends and kept distance from my co-workers. All I wanted was to give my best at work and to be at my outstanding performance. It didn’t get to me how the hustle and bustle would deliberately affect my social dealings with people around me. It came unnoticed. When awareness hits you, it wouldn’t be too late for redirecting your goals and rethinking on what really are your best priorities.

Redirecting lives wouldn’t as easy as one, two, three and so, I learned to take things one step at a time. In each day, I make pledges of spending quality time with my family. I took time in learning how to cook my husband’s favorite meal. I failed at first, but it didn’t cause me to belittle my ability. I remember how I scared I was when I failed at work for the first time. I recall how my friends consoled me and gave me a helping hand. Life is not just about success. On a Saturday afternoon, I invited my children out for a walk at the shopping mall and they really enjoyed it. My first five years of teaching gave me wonderful experiences with my peers as we toured various cities in the Philippines. During those endearing moments, we didn’t feel alienation from each others’predisposition. Why have we become so distant from one another? I guess I should get used to their judgments instead of expecting commendation. When we were friends, we used to love each others’differences but now it made us distant. It was far enough that we lost knowledge and understanding of one’s mistakes at work. I wanted to reach out, but I failed many times.

I understand that issues at work can be dealt with maturity. I started considering my co-workers, students and other peers as part of my family. They may have wronged me but as family we naturally have forgiven each other for the sake of securing the foundation of our relationships. We might have stumbled but our resilient nature molded us to be better educators as we widen our horizons to understand first before we judge. Being an educator taught me more lessons than what I have taught my students. As I become a newer version of myself, I pledged to be stronger to accept this society’s eccentricities.

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I at Rafael L. Lazatin Memorial High School