I have been cooped up in a very beautiful, newly restored, southern plantation ball room with my whole team for the past few days. It’s awesome, you’ll say! Yeah, the room… The other part not so much! C’mon! Every day… For eight hours…Hearing all the stories…. The ones you want, and the ones you want to never hear about, ever again. Tell ya’ what: next time they say training….run! It might just be the day you were chosen to do the soul chasing. And, boy, is that a tough hunt!
This was a very well intended and otherwise quite successful, if applied at the right time, set of seminars on human relations and reaching others. Problem was there were too many souls in that room, just bursting with chasing desires, and too little time…! It was loud! And teary! And tumultuous! I think they call it the “Lifetime Television” moment, right? It was a moment all-right! A lot of moments…
A gal came to tell us how we should talk with kids. She thought she knew all about it, and was eager to share. So were my colleagues unfortunately! So, what do you get when you pack a room with 50 people who want to be right? Many descriptions come to mind, but just to share a few: a riot, a funeral, a madhouse, a circus, a battle field. I did learned about all the families and pain of that crowd. And it was crushing, and hard, and powerful! And it brought me closer to all of them. The first day.
But. By lunch, the second day, I was furious. Third day, 9:00 am, more were furious. It fell on me to be the strong one. Why? I didn’t ask for mass transgression! I didn’t even ask for soul searching! I did ask for a little sanity and a lot of time to train my people for what is coming next week!
I guess I’m lucky. I didn’t find anything, but I’m lucky. At least I didn’t take home all the pain the others shed. I did put a lot in all my pockets, you can’t help what you’re feeling! And you can’t stop your heart from breaking…I didn’t find out things about myself that I didn’t know. But, then again, I’ve been doing this searching for a long time now, there are no corners left unturned, and though there are new folds each day, the landscaping is still the same. Not many surprises there! But looking at the others, just opening their eyes to their inner world…woah! where have they been? most of those people can be my parents!
I guess this whole soul searching thing is like exercise, better to do a little bit and often than a lot at one time…that will take out all you got, leave you tired, stressed and yield no results in the long run. So why did anyone think three days of this is so great, now, right before the teachers get ready to meet their kids for the first time this year? They didn’t even have time to get their rooms ready! And now they’re drained, physically and emotionally! I bet you someone thought we have supermen on staff! And, of course, that time is something obsolete, that nobody uses anymore!
To all of you teaching out there: be blessed! may your cup runneth over with joy, greatness and contentment. But most of all, may you keep your sanity for your family too! Have a safe year!
