Hi, all!
So, you have now memorized the signs and symptoms of possible heart attacks and strokes as they were outlined in my last two
postings, correct? Good. (If not, feel free to go back and check them
out.) Now, we can move on to talk about
another topic that’s a lot more fun to think about and discuss. That would be stress. I know, I know. Only a few scattered folks involved in the field
of education experience stress, so why should I focus on it? Well, perhaps you are one of the scattered
folks. So, here we go.
When I graduated from high school in Miami, lo, those many
years ago, one of the activities of the senior class was to produce a booklet
of predictions about how the lives of a group of graduating seniors were going
to turn out. This was no popularity
contest—the top 10% of the class were the ones included in the booklet. I graduated 75th out of a class of
750 (big school, back in the day), so I squeaked into the booklet. I guess I felt pretty good about that, and as
long as I can squeak into heaven the same way, I’ll feel good about that, too.
Anyway, the prediction about me was that I was going to be a
writer. Huh. During my career, a lot of my time has been
spent writing grant proposals, and, while I have not yet achieved great public
fame as a result, I guess the prediction was pretty much on target. And at least I THINK about writing books, and
have developed a long list of possible titles over the years. In fact, I’m really good at writing titles,
and maybe one day the books will follow.
But for now, I just keep writing titles and try to find things to attach
them to. As a result, a couple of years
ago I came up with a title for what has become a very popular NEA HIN workshop. It’s called “Kill Stress before It Kills You.”
Now, I don’t give the workshop, mind you. My colleague, Nora Howley, does that, and
exceedingly well, I might add. In fact,
if you see the workshop being offered at one of the Regionals or other meetings
that you are attending, you would be well-served to sign up for it. Nora covers topics like what stress is, what
happens when you experience it, ongoing causes of stress and what they can do
to your body, etc. In my next posting, I
will go into a little more depth about this issue, since it really does affect
more than a few of us. And if we don’t
take steps to harness the effects of stress, we can actually shorten our
lives. I need to work on this, too,
otherwise, my epitaph will read “She Wrote Great Titles, but the Books Never
Followed.” Stay tuned.
Bette
P.S. If you have any
questions about writing grant proposals, please leave a comment below and I’ll
get back to the topic in a future post.
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