Ann Marie Shell
Last updated March 2020
Greetings Friends and Families of Eau Claire Public Schools!
Ready or not, the end is near (the end of the school year, that is). As of today, March 2, we only have 62 days left of the 2020-2021 school year, which puts us two-thirds of the way through the year. I can hardly believe that we are in the home stretch!
I don’t know about you, but as that thought resonates, feelings of panic and anxiety start to set in because there is so much left to do on my to-do list. On top of having too much left to do, my brain feels as if it has not been functioning properly. I am not sure if it is age or stress, but it seems like every time I walk into a room, I get halfway in and I forget why I entered the room to begin with. The struggle is real!
This week, the Daily Quote App on my iPhone popped up with, “Never judge the journey by the distance.” by Jacqueline Winspear. Coincidence? Maybe not. I believe that it is an important reminder that success is not a race and our journey may not be perfect. What truly matters is that we keep fighting the fight to get to our destination. Like it or not, we all ride the struggle bus, maybe even more than we want to admit. Some people only ride it on occasion, but some of us seem to buy monthly passes. What is most important is that we don’t make the seat on the struggle bus a permanent one. We need to remind ourselves that a journey worth taking won’t always be an easy one, but it will be worth it when we arrive.
So as we near the end of the 2019-2020 school year at ECPS, it’s okay that we didn’t do everything we wanted. We are headed in the right direction. Remember that our struggles lead to growth and growth leads to evolution, which at the end of the day is what life is all about – Evolving. We are always striving to become a better version of ourselves, our schools, our communities, and our world. Evolution is about progress, not perfection. It’s about realizing that in order to be the BEST place to learn and work, the ECPS community needs to continually grow. Our journey may require more miles and more work than we would like, but the journey will be worth it.
GO BEAVERS!
Ann Marie Shell