I’m
never one that has chosen a New Year’s Resolution and stuck with it. This year,
my professor has challenged me to select one word as a goal for this
year. Lots of words come to mind when I set expectations and hopes
for the year ahead, but all of my words seem to correlate down to one: GROWTH.
I
recently finished a book study with my colleagues centered around Carol Dweck’s
book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
Dweck teaches “… the view you adopt of yourself profoundly affects the way
you lead your life.” (Dweck 2006).
Your
mindset is the view you have on a daily basis and the belief that you can
change. The idea of having a “growth mindset” is the belief that you can change
through effort and grow though application and experience. For
simple tasks that I might have before said “That’s just too hard for me,” I may
now change that phrase to say, “This may take some time and effort.” This
is not only something that I am trying with my students but also with myself.
Keeping a growth mindset is key for living my life this year and I hopefully
will only grow stronger from it.
I
will also be experiencing new academic growth this year by starting graduate
school. This is a new and exciting journey for me to learn more. As an
educator, I need to feel like I am constantly learning and growing.
I
also can’t forget about the physical growth. Although I wish I could still grow
a few inches taller in my adult years, the growth I’ll be experiencing will be
more in my belly. I am expecting my first child in August and I could not be
more excited to begin the journey of motherhood.
All
of these life changes will surely bring a year of big changes and hopefully
positive growth. I have this quote that I am using as my focus: “If we don’t
change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” (Gail
Sheehy)
I
am ready to grow and make this year one of purposeful change.
