Recognising your significance...

Sometimes it can be difficult to see any significance in what you do. You work hard, try your best, give it your all. You try to better yourself, learn more, give more. You do it to share your skills, your understandings, your life lessons. Sometimes, however, your reach seems so limited and your efforts worthless. At this point, it becomes harder to see your purpose in this world. I'll always remember a priest who spoke at a Sydney youth festival: "A lot goes into a person." It made me reconsider what my parents wanted for me and some of the conscious choices they made.

Each one of us is unique, the product of a myriad of experiences, teachings and interactions. Each one of us has so much to share, but sometimes the opportunity to do so is lacking. I've worked hard in my life to learn new things, improve my knowledge, be the best teacher I can be. But, I've spent too much time trying to help the wrong people. Only now have I come to recognise my worth. All those public holidays spent working to be the best teacher I can be. The all-nighters spent planning the perfect sequence of lessons when many of the students simply didn't care. The intricate report comments that were barely read by students or their parents. 

However, all of this time and effort hasn't amounted to nothing. The product is a teacher who thinks critically and who has something of worth to share with her students. I have been very fortunate to receive fantastic feedback in recent years from parents whose children I tutor. For the first time my teaching is being witnessed in people's homes, its merits evaluated. In schools, limits are set on what I am able to contribute, but outside of that context, the sky is the limit! - Mel