God is faithful. We have to give Him our little, and He will do what He does. It’s Day #11. I’m really pressing in to find out what’s on the other side of my obedience in this area of waking up at 5AM. However, this morning I had to ask God to keep my heart pure, and to make sure that the motive behind my pressing in is to seek God’s heart, and not His hand. I’m only human, and sometimes the cares of this world can get a little heavy. However, when I switch my focus on God and not the challenges than the challenges are like floating feathers. It’s there, but it’s light, and no longer weighing me down.

Anyway, the title of this post was inspired from one of my friends who texted me these exact words. You see I started teaching again. The students haven’t arrived yet, but I’ve been setting up my classroom. You see I love to teach and I love kids. However, that’s not all teaching is about. We are also interior decorators as well, just to name one of the 50 other roles we play…lol 🙂 I am very simple, and I always have been when it comes to decorations. However, being an elementary school teacher you want the classroom to look inviting. Well, remember I have been off for 2 years, and I’m teaching a new grade. I’m big in not reinventing the wheel, so I was like let me just set up my room the way the other teachers have their room set up. Maaaaaaaaan…(I really need to show the pictures to do this story justice)..I was trying to be like the other teacher and create my word wall, by using tape to box off each letter. My version was a hot mess, and my lines were all types of crooked, and I was feeling frustrated. Then I passed by another teacher’s classroom and her board just had the letters without the lines, so I was like maybe I don’t have to do the lines after all. Shortly after, I visited one of my friends, and her room represented who she was. You could walk in it and see she wasn’t trying to be someone else, this was HER room. Meanwhile I’m texting 2 of my friends back and forth with jokes of my epic failure trying to create a word wall with straight lines. One of my friends thought it was so funny she posted about it…LOL 🙂 All jokes aside I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I found myself comparing myself to these other teachers and thinking my room isn’t good enough. I was like how in the world am I going to get my room ready in time for school, and how am I going to get my room to look anything like the other teachers. Then it hit me. I was comparing myself to others. Make a long story short, I said you know what forget these lines. That worked for someone else, but not me. Instead I just put up the precut letters, and my board looks great. I also incorporated Peacebe, character education, and stars in my classroom, because I want my future students to shine. This was very freeing. Once I was honest enough to realize I was comparing, then I became brave enough to stop comparing, and just be me. Then I got in the zone, and was able to accomplish a lot more. Prior to me realizing that I was comparing I felt stuck, and was moving really slowly, because I kept thinking it wasn’t good enough. I’m grateful God placed me on this team, because the other 3 teachers seem really cool, and I can learn a lot from them.

Have you ever compared yourself to others? It could be comparing yourself to someone else’s ability, appearance, career, kids, talents, relationships, finances, or anything else. Think about it and be honest. If you have compared yourself to others I believe you miss out on being who God has called you to be, and doing what He has called you to do. You create this false reality that someone else has it all together and you don’t. I try not to compare, because I know what God has for me is for me, and what God has for you is for you. Therefore I like to cheer on others instead. I get inspired from others, and love encouraging other people to go after their dreams. However, even still I found myself comparing my classroom to the other teachers, and there was an unnecessary weight that I put on myself those couple of days. That weight was lifted once I realized that my room doesn’t have to look exactly like someone else’s. My room has to represent ME, and be inviting for my students. Once I realized that I was FREE to unleash the interior decorator within….LOL 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I used wisdom and got inspiration from the other teachers, because they’ve been there for several years. So I made sure I incorporated the same components. However, I added my own flavor to it, and I’m actually liking it a lot. My encouragement to anyone reading this is to BE YOU, because it’s BeYOUtiful!!! Definitely learn from and get inspiration from others more experienced, but don’t get consumed thinking you have to be someone you’re not. The moment I learned this lesson, I was like I definitely want to write about this to hopefully encourage someone, somehow <3

PS-When I was trying to select a picture for this post, this image really stood out to me. It looks like the grass is looking at the sky through a mirror wanting to be more like the sky. However, BOTH are beautiful, and both serve their own purpose. The grass can’t do what the sky can do, and the sky can’t do what the grass can do. This also brings home the point of the importance of not comparing. We each have our roles and purpose. Every minute we spend wishing we were someone else, something else, or somewhere else we miss out on who we are, what we are, and where we are in this very moment. This doesn’t mean not to strive to be better and do better, just make sure you’re being YOU in the process.