To Know Is To Try

It’s so funny when I think about things to talk about in my edu-blog.  I find that it’s often advice that I should take.  I should listen to myself.  Is this ironic?  Strangely, it’s not.  I wear two hats… teacher and learner.  A lot of what I have to say as a teacher, is what I need to say to myself as a learner.

What’s my lesson for today?  You never know unless you try.  Today, my daughter and I were finishing up some last minute shopping at a local supermarket.  What frustrates my daughter immensely is me yip-yapping to people I see in the store… in the mall… at the school… in the parking lot… at the gas station… at the restaurant.  As it seems, the list goes on.  Anyway, I bumped into a couple also doing last minute shopping with their daughter.  The mom congratulated me on my election win and proceeded to ask me if I regret leaving my teaching position.  My response is how would I know what I was capable of if I didn’t try.  I have no regrets.  She called me brave.

Honestly, how would you know unless you tried?  This life lesson relates to trying new food, solving algebraic equations, or academic course work.  I would give this advice to my daughter, my math students, and it seems that it should be something I should consider myself as a doctoral student.  This advice is easy to give to others, but difficult advice to listen for myself.  The truth is, I can never realize the potential of my dissertation unless I take the leap and write.  To know is to try… why not?