Be Proud. Be True. Be You.

This weekend I ran participated in the Cosmic Run 5k.  It was supposed to be the kick off to getting ready for my wedding, but that's another story.  I was SO unprepared for it, and debated about not evening going if I couldn't run the whole thing, but I'm glad I did.  I told my students on Friday that I would be doing it and they were so excited, especially when they hear I was going to get paint-like things thrown at me and I would be wearing glow sticks.  I did well at the 5k - nope, didn't run it all, but what I did run, I ran well.  I had so much fun!  Running has felt like a chore to me in the past two years or so, but it didn't Saturday night.  I always tell my kids, you don't know how good it'll turn out until you try. I tried, and it was way better than I expected.  Of course Monday morning they could not wait to see pictures.  After finding out that I didn't win (what a shock!) and that I wasn't still covered in paint, they were very excited to hear how it went.  After explaining what I did, one student told me, "I'm proud of you!" when asked why, she simply replied, "You were worried about running, but you did it!  See it wasn't that bad, was it?"  No it wasn't sweetie, it was what I needed.  I needed to prove to myself that even if I don't succeed the way someone else may want me to, I succeeded the way I needed to.  I succeeded and made myself proud.  My job is now to empower my students to do the same - be proud of who they are, what they can do, and not judge themselves based on others.

Be proud. Be true. Be you.