This is for anyone who has been burdened by school work. For anyone who is overwhelmed with family obligations. For anyone who has forgotten what it feels like to look at something other than the inside of your cubicle or workspace. This is a moment, a set of words, for you to stop, breath, and remember the reason we exist on this beautiful earth. Take a second to push away the list of responsibilities and tasks awaiting you right now.
Remember joy.
Laughter, the kind that is soon followed by a soreness in your abs. Smile, the kind that is uncontrollable because the joy inside of you cannot be contained. Dance, the kind where you know you look like a fool but you just do not care.
For the past seven months, I have been giving 110% of myself to a student teaching internship. Waking up before the sun and coming home long after the sun has set. Working seven days a week without so much as a two-hour break here and there. As my internship winds down and I reach the next, important, step in my teaching career I have allowed myself a moment to remember joy.
To remember all of the laughs I have had with my students, of whom I would give my soul for, and all of the obstacles overcome. I have taken the time, significant time, to reflect on my growth as an individual. One who is no longer afraid to make a fool of herself in front of a classroom of 17-year-olds.
Even more important, I have given myself the opportunity to remember the joy, pure joy, I have experienced when sharing my knowledge with the next generation. To remind them how important and valuable they are to the world they are a part of. Even more, to push them to be the best person. To not be defined by the labels thrust upon them in the high school bubble that only pops the second you walk onto a college classroom or an apartment complex.
Bottom line is that we can get so wrapped up in our daily routine and responsibilities. Which is not to diminish the value in what we do on a daily basis, but rather to give ourselves the chance to breathe. To remember the joy that is so undeserved in my mind. Maybe this is a unique perspective, and also an anomaly, but my relationship with God is the reason for my joy. One of my recent mottos comes from Chance the Rapper's song "How Great" and reminds me of how small I am in this world: the first is that God is better than the world's best thing. Because of that, I live in joy.
Remember joy.
