~:[CH11 - Day 310]:~ Rollercoasters

 

~:[CH11 - Day 310]:~ Rollercoasters

It was a long weekend, so it's no wonder why I was exhausted by night's end. I woke up early as my body forgot it was daylight savings. Luckily, none of the students showed up an hour early. I was able to roll through the committees and check out how the students were doing. I was amazed, but in one committee, I was there for about five minutes and heard every one of my delegates speak, a rare feat. Committee after committee, the delegates were fairly engaged. Some could have been more assertive, some could raise their placard more, but all in all, I was fairly happy with how they were doing. With the energy high during lunch, after awards, I had a swing of emotions, some high and some low. It's the standard at conferences. We have some who thought they did well and the evaluation didn't match with what they expected and on the other end, others who didn't think they did well that end up with more than they had thought. I always see the rollercoaster of emotions and it's always exhausting to manage most of them. This time around, I felt most positive vibes than anything else, but there were a few that need a little pick me up. I guess this parallels to the life they'll face ahead. The day they expect a promotion or recognition, they may get overlooked while sometimes they'll get a surprise promotion or bonus. Life is not always predictable and contains a range of emotions. My best advice for them is to keep your emotions in check and as even-keeled as possible as pitfalls await just as much as surprises. It's not easy to do for anybody, but even tougher for a teenager. I hope that in the end, they can focus on their performance and their own self-evaluation versus the recognition given out, as it makes life a lot tougher when you based your "success" solely on the perspective of others. Success comes in many forms and I hope that they see that it's simply not about the piece of paper (or absence of one) that shows their success. Next month, we'll go through this cycle again when we head to Mira Costa and hope that they'll learn and grow, ultimately seeing the true success they should be seeking out.