*I'm taking a grad class on teacher burnout. One of my assignments is to write a paper based on the book
Finding a Path with a Heart: Burnout to Bliss by Dr. Beverly Potter.*
Right now I am in a unique situation. At least I think it’s a unique situation. The year 2011 was an awful year for me. In January, my husband decided he didn’t love me anymore and moved to Seattle, Washington. In March I was rushed to the hospital via ambulance with two pulmonary embolisms in my lung. The doctor’s told me that if I hadn’t gone to the ER and just stayed at home like I wanted to, I would have died. I spent a week in the hospital undergoing several tests. I now have a blood disorder called Factor V Leiden.
Things did not get any better. The judge granted my husband and me a divorce in May. I never thought I would be divorced. It broke my heart. I felt like a failure. That summer I went completely crazy and did things I never imagined I would do. I didn’t sleep or eat. I just partied to forget about all my issues.
School began in August. I felt like a loser. I also got sick, really sick. I tried to ignore what was going on inside of my body. I was no longer myself anymore. I was so sick for the next couple of months. I did the bare minimum at work. My students knew something was wrong with their teacher.
In October, a man tried to break into my house at 9:00 am on a Saturday morning. My dog woke me up because she was running around the house barking. I walked into my kitchen to find a strange man destroying my porch door and trying to get in my house. I called 911 and the police responded in record time. The man was arrested immediately. I still get scared every time I look at my porch door.
I finally shared my symptoms with my doctor in November. She sent me to another doctor who examined me and determined something was wrong, really wrong. That doctor sent me to an Oncologist. I had cancer and had to have an emergency surgery to remove it.
My essential goal is to be less stressed. After all that I have been through and continue to go through, this is a tough goal. According to the author, the purpose of a goal is to motivate, to get yourself moving. I’m going to get moving. I’m going to try and focus on the positive things in my life.
I know I cannot do anything about the things over which I have no control. I have to make the best out of any situation I come across. No journey is without problems, detours, and other obstacles. I have to turn obstacles into opportunities.
Dr. Potter states that “It is when we grab opportunities and rise to challenges that we are most likely to experience bliss”. I’m taking this statement literally and turning my stressful life into bliss so much so that I even named my new wedding consultant company ‘Bliss by Monica’.
Bliss by Monica
Thinking positively,
Monica