Rejection

What a way to end the summer and start the new school year with an inspiring blog entry about REJECTION. I’ve been meaning to write this for some time but it’s been a whirlwind leaving the Sunshine Coast and returning back to Prince George. Why I want to write about REJECTION is that it is often perceived as negative. From what I have been blogging in previous entries, the “making is in the breaking.” We are wanders and sometimes you have to put yourself out there to realize if something was meant to happen or not. Whether it be an application for a job or program… a relationship… or the stomach flu, you invite something in with hopes of it working out (or not).

I may sound indifferent, but really I’m grateful. What REJECTION means to me is, this is the WRONG way. Thanks for trying, but try again. It’s not so say that you couldn’t try again and depending on context that might be the most appropriate thing to do. It reminds me of Assessment for Learning and Formative Feedback. Try. Get feedback. What are you going to do about it. Try again. But “trying again” can also mean in another context to try something else. This is not the direction to take. The universe is talking, shall we say… or serendipity. You are meant to be somewhere else. I embrace that thinking. Don’t define yourself by REJECTION but rather, ask yourself what’s next?

I am brought to the First Peoples Principles of Learning: LEARNING TAKES PATIENCE AND TIME. It’s more than just the western/euro point of view of giving time and being patient. It’s more about being on a journey and you are learning certain things at certain times and you might not be totally aware as to why you are learning something at a particular time or at a particular place, but you are meant to learn it in preparation for something else. There is a bigger picture or intention meant for all of us and each of us know what that is, whether if we can admit it to ourselves or not. We need to trust the process and deeply engage in the present with the understanding it will help us in the future.

I just came back from a professional learning experience in the Nechako Lakes School District at the Nadleh Whut’En First Nations at the Nautley River with KOH-Learning. It was an amazing experience and I had realized the importance of connecting oneself to the land because LAND IS IDENTITY. I have a deeper understanding of that, as I am a visitor to this territory, but also as someone who lives in two places. It is incredibly challenging and diverse. For me, it’s not to reject where I am but to embrace and invite where I am to understand who I am. And when I look around the Central Interior of BC (compared the the Coast), it is equally spectacular and beautiful here as it is at my other home. CONNECTION. PASSION. IDENTITY. We were asked to think of 3 words after our learning experience and this is what I’ve come to learn. Love where you are.

Being on the land that day and being next to the river helped me to rebuild my relationship with WATER. I love the water. I’ve always felt connected to it as a child and as an adult. This is not to say I swim or like to be in a boat, but I love listening to and watching the ripples form in water. I was born and raised by the ocean and my adult years living near the ocean. I remember noticing when returning to the Sunshine Coast from Prince George was the sound of the ocean waves and the smell of the salt air. It’s incredible. The water speaks to me. But being at Nautley River, I realized that the water rippling through the river was equally amazing and wonderful. She is speaking to me.

My biggest take-away from the KOH-Learning experience was “What is the watershed/waterways teaching us?” We engaged in a World Cafe activity and I was facilitating this table. We are all connected and interconnected. The river is resilient. THE SALMON ARE RESILIENT. Yes!!! They are. They will always know how to swim upstream when the conditions have changed. The river will continue to flow even if it’s been traumatized by a damn or landslide. We will find a way. Therefore, there is no such thing as REJECTION. We are resilient. We are meant to take a different path.

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL. ENJOY AND EMBRACE THE LEARNING JOURNEY.