Unlocking Potential: How Inspirational Teachers Change Lives
Acknowledging The Heroes That See Us Before We Do
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Dear readers,
This week I’m doing something slightly different. Although we usually discuss books, I was inspired this week to write about the importance of having not just the right support system, but the teachers that can help direct us the right way. These are my personal takeaways, so there are so many more angles that we can discuss this from! If you have ay other thoughts, please add them inn the comments and let’s share ideas.
June x
Importance of Encouragement
In my experience, teachers have always had a massive impact on me and my abilities. From setting higher expectations and showing us how to achieve our goals, it’s clear to me that teachers are the foundation of our society.
As children, we would have spent a significant amount of time with our teachers. From when we were very young to early adulthood this would have been our reality unless we were homeschooled. These are some of the most influential years of our lives. As a result, they set not only a benchmark for the quality of our education but also the quality of our lives. When someone older and more influential sees potential in us, we want to meet their expectations as children.
Sometimes it can follow with resistance on our part, especially if we are not placed in an environment where we are used to being pushed towards our limits. However, when we feel seen as people, it can encourage us to move towards progress. A truly committed teacher can leave an immense impact on our lives that follows us into adulthood.
Recognizing Hidden Potential
Teachers who care, can see us before we do. Whether our performance, intelligence, and attitude are in alignment yet, they witness our potential and can show us how to maximise our strengths and show us where we need to grow. If they are great teachers they will know exactly how to help us push through our disadvantages and help us navigate towards that potential, oftentimes nurturing us into well-balanced adults.
It takes passion, patience, and understanding to be a great teacher. Someone truly passionate and selfless about nurturing others into their best selves, because that is what they ultimately do. I had a singing coach who saw me past my insecurities and said to me that inside of me was an artist. This was the first time that anyone had ever called me that, despite having taken almost 7 years of vocal lessons at that point. It changed my life just because it felt like someone saw me. By helping me shift my perception, I felt moved to push forward and hone in on the skills that I was working on even more. I’d also like to mention that I wasn’t the only student of hers who was thriving. All her students were phenomenal singers, because she knew how to target and help them work on their specific areas that needed attention.
Those words and her lessons were carried through me far beyond the years that she was teaching me. She didn’t only nurture my vocal skills, but she gave me the confidence to expand into other territory with the belief that I could overcome so long as I was open to learning. I studied art in other mediums and found that my passions expanded beyond music. Her trust in me helped me trust myself. This was of course a result of many other lessons that she taught me, but those lessons will never be forgotten. It goes to show how much of a psychological impact great teachers have on us.
Building Character and Discipline
Character building and skills come with discipline. Sometimes practising those skills can be very confrontational because we don’t always achieve the result that we’re working towards. This can be relevant in sports, music, academics, relationships and every other aspect of life you can think of. The reality is that in the game of achievement, sometimes you win and other times you lose. These are difficult lessons to learn at any age, but I would encourage everyone to learn them as soon as possible. Holding yourself back from fully engaging in life because you’re scared will leave you riddled with regret at some point in time. You never lose from trying - maybe you don’t get to your goal, but you certainly come out with discipline, work ethic, mental agility, patience and grit. Your character builds, your skills increase/ refine, and your attitude is reshaped.
What makes it so beneficial to have passionate teachers behind us, is that they can help support us through those difficult times by helping us re-focus. It depends on their approach, but many times they can give us the wake-up call we need; which is that we are not owed anything. Our results are a representation of our commitment to discipline, and our attitude is a representation of how we choose to overcome adversity. Just because we didn’t reach our goals this time, does not mean that our work is lost or that it won’t ever happen. Results are confrontational, but they are a measuring tool to help us navigate our way forward. Part of the challenge is to perceive it as such, so that we can use it as a tool to our advantage.
Perseverance is a key attribute to overcoming hardship. Although we can achieve this alone, there is no greater feeling than having a peer, teacher, or a mentor with us to help us find our way while we’re working towards our goals. The levels of effectiveness increase overall because there is someone there with us. They help us take responsibility and remind us to continue on our journey despite the setbacks because, as mentioned before, sometimes they see our potential before we do.
Overcoming Adversity with Support
Support systems are essential if you want to progress forward. This isn’t always easy because we don’t all have the same starting points in our lives. Many of us will see others having opportunities that may not be available to us individually, but that shouldn’t discourage us from making our way forward. So it’s important to know where you want to go so that you may find the people who can help you navigate the right path. This may include teachers, mentors, family, or even friends.
Adversity will occur regardless of our starting points. Although it may not necessarily seem that way, there’s a saying that covers this very well, “New levels, new devils.” So seek out those who can help you from where you are. If you want quality advice, you’ll need to have a teacher that not only sees your potential, but understands your challenges thoroughly. How you integrate constructive criticism is important, but not all criticism is relevant. Be cautious of those who want to advise because it makes them feel important. They’ll most likely give unhelpful and irrelevant advice. The point is to move forward in the right direction, not waste time. A passionate teachers looks at your challenges and helps you refine your skills through steps that are relevant to your personal areas that need attention. This is where our discernment comes in. Our environment plays a huge role in what we determine is possible, so try to seek the people you’re looking for. Sometimes our teachers don’t find us, but we find them.
Achieving success is difficult because oftentimes we can experience setbacks, rejection, loss or heartbreak. With every kind of adversity, we are growing up, learning, and overcoming difficulty. We could not have those lessons, or even value our success, without taking those hits. But we don’t have to do it alone. Having someone there to guide you through the motions is so valuable to have in your life. Without them, it might take us so much longer, be a means of giving up, or even prevent us from trying at all. Don’t do it alone if you don’t have to; find your people.
Conclusion
Growth happens at different rates for all of us. It is of no use to compare ourselves to others because we haven’t all lived the same lives and have had the opportunity to learn the same lessons. But when you find someone who sees something in you, it is such a blessing to experience. Our teachers can help us overcome so much, and help us take the responsibility it requires to move through to the next level. Those lessons when well implemented, can not only stay with us for the rest of our lives but can impact other facets of our lives as well.
Teachers who are passionate and energised to nurture their student’s potential are people who know how to activate the sparks within us that show us what’s possible. They can help us develop our strengths, acknowledge our weaknesses, and keep us on track towards our goals. This also helps us develop into better human beings overall. These lessons don’t ever just apply to one area of our life but are skills that we can carry over into the other facets of our world too. The more we are encouraged to be better, we will keep doing better. If we are just as energised as they are, then we will change the world.
Finding the right teachers is important in life, but being generous with our knowledge is also important to the world. We have the power to empower one another and create an overall better world altogether. Although some of us may not qualify as a teacher, when we see someone that we can help because perhaps we see something in them that’s worth nurturing, perhaps that’s an opportunity for us to send the elevator back down. All people, when they are acknowledged, valued, and heard, will provide value in some form or another to our world. Sometimes it just takes the right person to activate it.
Until Next Time!
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Keep living life on your terms.
June Tara
Creator of Spark Siren