Monday, October 9, 2023
It’s often our environment that draws out our character. When I’m with my best friend, who is insanely funny, he draws out my sense of humor. When I’m in front of my friends in South Louisiana, they bring out the Cajun in me, and I engage in all of the colloquialisms of the region. Many times the character is unaware that the environment is nudging them to move on. Most people think they influence the environment.
My character does best when it’s in the right place and doing the right things. I’m at my best when I pay attention to what my surroundings are telling me. It might be time to move on, to “graduate” to the next level, and your situation is whispering this to you. But many of us don’t listen to the teacher and stay in the same grade year after year. Are you holding yourself back?
I recently quit my full-time teaching job. I felt like the environment lost its vibrancy. It was time to move on, but I had no alternate plan! The job situation I was in wasn’t bringing out my best. Actually, it was drawing out my complacency and boredom, which meant I had extracted all that I could from it. Sometimes, your situation is teaching you the importance of faith. Sometimes a leap of faith into the unknown will draw out your pioneering spirit. What’s around you is showing you how to grow, which often requires moving into your potential, the unknown. The surroundings are educative and persuasive. Life is a school. Rather than being the bully, remaining a permanent fixture, or trying to be the teacher, why not enroll in the curriculum and take the course? It might be time to move to the next grade, even if you don’t know a thing about it.