When I think of the word support, my mind is immediately drawn to the role of cheerleaders in any given sport, cheering their team on to victory. When I look at the environment around me, including the people in my life, I am surrounded by supportive friends, family and colleagues who help me achieve my goals in numerous ways. I'm the first to say that being a teacher and being in graduate school isn't the easist task in the world, but it's something that I have chosen to do for me and for my students. With this task comes the juggling of everyday housekeeping, yardwork, exercising, and making time for family and friends. When socializing with my friends, they constantly ask me if I've finished my homework and how I'm doing on my assignments. Some of my friends offer to help me by mowing the lawn and fixing odds and ends throughout my home. Without these supports, I would definitely feel as though I had the weight of the world on my shoulder. My friends realize that I have a lot on my plate and oftentimes make it easy for me to achieve my goals by helping me without hesitation.
My family is also very supportive. Though I live far away from my parents, my brother, and my extended family, they are just a phone call away. They are there to talk to about important events that are happening in my lilfe as well as to provide encouragement for me daily. When speaking with my colleagues about our graduate work, we develop a sense of unity that we are all here to accomplish the same goal, and that is being dedicated to the quality education of young children. We share ideas, stories, struggles, and successes, which brings us closer to each other and gives us strength to make it through the day, week, month, and year. All of these support systems together help me and encourage me in reaching my goal of obtaining a Master's degree here at Walden.
Without these supports, I'm almost positive that it would be difficult for me to maintain focus and balance in my life. Having studied throughout the Early Childhood Studies program, I believe that it would be very difficult for me to survive mentally, physically, and emotionally without these supports and relationships in my life.
At this stage in my life, I think it would be very challenging for me to accept anymore responsibility roles, such as leadership, at work. Though I do have a desire to make a difference in the lives of children, I don't want to overwhelm myself. I believe with more responsibility at this stage of my life, something (either my health, my family, my quiet time, etc) would suffer. A former college professor once mentioned that whenever we give 100% to one thing, something else goes lacking. In order for me to take on more responsibility at work, I would definitely need more help at home. It may have taken me a while, but I do realize that I can't do everything by myself. I've taken off my superwoman cape and only take on the things that I can manage.
