Simplicity at its best.

It's been a while.

Life has been more hectic week after week. Just had possibly the worst week in my working life, but I have come to realize that when the worst happens, so does it get easier to identify the simple but best moments as well. I started the week off on a bad note because weekend marking was a rush and I was in a grumpy mood. All that was on my mind were deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines that I had to meet. No time, no time, no time, I thought to myself as I tried to envision how my week would turn out. Bad, horrible, terrible. When midweek came, I tried something new. I remember someone told me to look at things with positivity, not with negativity. So I tried to focus on the good things, even though I was tired and still grumpy.

Slowly I began to notice the small things.

My students whom I once labelled as 'troublesome' and 'difficult to handle' were manageable. They were the class that brought me much laughter even though I had so much on my mind. They surprised me by not only passing, but excelling in their tests as a class in general, and that was something I didn't expect. I promised a student a few weeks ago that if he scored an A1 (distinction), I would give him a hi five. And when I did, he couldn't stop smiling. That touched my heart so greatly, because while I initially chose to be bitter and focus on ambitious targets that I wanted for the class, what the kids wanted from me as a teacher was so simple, so innocent that it was easy for me to just brush it off and overlook. And when I saw how the students brightened up when I told them how proud I was of them, and I was happy that they did well, inside I felt quite ashamed. Is this what people mean when they say sometimes people are too caught up in the rat race that they block out all semblance of what's important? I promise myself, I will open my eyes more, look around more, observe more, and be appreciative towards the people I am trying to inspire, instead of the mountain piles of work in front of me. Thank you, dear students, for reminding me of what's important.

I have to say again, my colleagues are the nicest bunch of people I have ever met. So extremely thankful for my workplace environment, where everyone is helpful towards each other. I sense the care and concern, and even though I had to stay in school for close to a dozen hours almost everyday  this week, these people made it bearable and kept me from going crazy and that is one of the few aspects I really appreciate about being at work.

Praying for a better, more eventful week ahead. It's finally Week 10 and i am glad. Time flies.