I am a specialist - that is my title, Resource Specialist. It means that I only teach children with identified disabilities. I actually am not licensed to teach anyone else. I don't mind though, because the idea of facing 35 students every period, every day, really doesn't do it for me! I like teaching small classes and being in charge of a smaller number of students than most other teachers.
I have thought a lot about this recently as I have received congrats and kudos for things that I am really not responsible for. And it occurred to me that the key is to focus on one thing and do that one thing well. I'm not a hair stylist, but I can French braid - and with 8 granddaughters, it's a skill that's in demand. And no one seems to question that I can't do much else with hair!
I've made bread for years - more in years past than in recent years - but I got pretty good at it. But I mostly only made one kind. Recently I've tried my hand at a new kind, but it feels more like work. I plan to persist at it, but it will be a chore for a bit I think.
At my school, there is an assumption that I am a great cook, an outstanding seamstress, and a wonderful gardener. I have earned these accolades by bringing lilies that bloom in my garden to school and putting them in the main office and the library. Since my lilies - through no effort on my part, by the way - are beautiful, everyone thinks I must be some kind of gardener.
And I put jam in pretty jars and give it out at Christmas - so there is another assumption that I am a great cook. (The hilarious part is that for the last two years, I have not given out jam at Christmas, but Marcie has. And I have gotten the credit, since she doesn't put tags on hers!)
I also make lots of aprons and have pretty much given them to a significant number of staff members - most of whom don't even mend, for heaven's sake - so it is once again assumed that I must be a stellar seamstress! I enjoy sewing - I have for a lot of years. But I don't enjoy struggling through a new pattern or fussing over unfamiliar details. So I just make the same thing over and over again - and enjoy doing it.
I can do lots of things - and in the past I did a lot more - but I am thinking that this business of specialization has real merit!
Upon rumination, however, I came to the conclusion that I have always been sort of a specialist. Maybe I have a hard time focusing on more than one thing at at time. Or maybe it just works out that way. When I was younger, my job was to mix the bread and clean the bathrooms. Alice always excelled at lots of things - but I pretty much kept to bread and bathrooms. And my mom, for one, would always comment, when I went to visit, that she loved when I came to stay because I did such a great job on the bathrooms!! I could be feted for much worse things!
I remember my friend Linda Rich saying, "Well, I'm not a cook. But I can get a chicken at the deli and mix up a bag of salad and slice some bread from the bakery!" And that's not a bad meal folks! In fact, it's a pretty darn good meal!
I can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch for weeks in a row. That characteristic can drive some people nuts. But sameness isn't always a negative. Sameness can bring comfort and security.
I'm not sure where this is going. It's just something I've been thinking about. I'm not writing so that you will comment and tell me how many great things I do. I'm writing because I feel like I am going to a place in my life where I don't need to keep "adding" things. I can focus on the things that, as Bonny would say, "bring me joy!"
And working with the familiar does indeed bring me joy!
I have thought a lot about this recently as I have received congrats and kudos for things that I am really not responsible for. And it occurred to me that the key is to focus on one thing and do that one thing well. I'm not a hair stylist, but I can French braid - and with 8 granddaughters, it's a skill that's in demand. And no one seems to question that I can't do much else with hair!
I've made bread for years - more in years past than in recent years - but I got pretty good at it. But I mostly only made one kind. Recently I've tried my hand at a new kind, but it feels more like work. I plan to persist at it, but it will be a chore for a bit I think.
At my school, there is an assumption that I am a great cook, an outstanding seamstress, and a wonderful gardener. I have earned these accolades by bringing lilies that bloom in my garden to school and putting them in the main office and the library. Since my lilies - through no effort on my part, by the way - are beautiful, everyone thinks I must be some kind of gardener.
And I put jam in pretty jars and give it out at Christmas - so there is another assumption that I am a great cook. (The hilarious part is that for the last two years, I have not given out jam at Christmas, but Marcie has. And I have gotten the credit, since she doesn't put tags on hers!)
I also make lots of aprons and have pretty much given them to a significant number of staff members - most of whom don't even mend, for heaven's sake - so it is once again assumed that I must be a stellar seamstress! I enjoy sewing - I have for a lot of years. But I don't enjoy struggling through a new pattern or fussing over unfamiliar details. So I just make the same thing over and over again - and enjoy doing it.
I can do lots of things - and in the past I did a lot more - but I am thinking that this business of specialization has real merit!
Upon rumination, however, I came to the conclusion that I have always been sort of a specialist. Maybe I have a hard time focusing on more than one thing at at time. Or maybe it just works out that way. When I was younger, my job was to mix the bread and clean the bathrooms. Alice always excelled at lots of things - but I pretty much kept to bread and bathrooms. And my mom, for one, would always comment, when I went to visit, that she loved when I came to stay because I did such a great job on the bathrooms!! I could be feted for much worse things!
I remember my friend Linda Rich saying, "Well, I'm not a cook. But I can get a chicken at the deli and mix up a bag of salad and slice some bread from the bakery!" And that's not a bad meal folks! In fact, it's a pretty darn good meal!
I can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch for weeks in a row. That characteristic can drive some people nuts. But sameness isn't always a negative. Sameness can bring comfort and security.
I'm not sure where this is going. It's just something I've been thinking about. I'm not writing so that you will comment and tell me how many great things I do. I'm writing because I feel like I am going to a place in my life where I don't need to keep "adding" things. I can focus on the things that, as Bonny would say, "bring me joy!"
And working with the familiar does indeed bring me joy!
4 comments:
thanks mom. that was a nice post.
I completely get this post Barbara.
I have never really felt like I do anything all that great and definately don't have talents galore - if at all.
However, I can and do do many different things and always find it funny when someone thinks I am so very talented at one thing or another when, infact, I am not.
I've noticed that more and more I am content to just be me and not wish I could be more like so and so, or doing more like such and such. I think it has to do with the aging process. Also, I like being content. I don't like always wanting or trying to be something new. Yet, I still try new things, so go figure?
Like Bonny, I find myself doing things which "bring me joy!" and that is the key for me.
I know I said do do . . . sorry!
Amy - as much as we love the familiar, I think it's necessary to try new things occasionally - without feeling driven to it - so that we don't stagnate.
The important part is not feeling driven to it!
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