You Never Know What Someone is Dealing With

Everyone is dealing with something. 

Everyone is going through something….and you may never know. 

It never hurts to be little more patient, a little kinder to people because you don’t really know what’s going on in their lives.

Two examples:

Last Christmas Eve, my mother-in-law had a stroke - a blood vessel broke in her brain and caused extensive damage. She lost the ability to stand and walk. She could not feed herself and had difficulty communicating. As you can imagine, this was very difficult to cope with for my family and I. My students last spring and this fall, right up until she passed away, had no idea what was going on in my head and my heart. I showed up every day, taught my lessons, joked around with my 7th grade “llamas” just like I normally would. None of my students knew, but it was there all the time.

In another school, I had a student who was dealing with some serious anxiety. I didn’t know. He hid it well. One Friday, he seemed a little quieter than usual. I sat down at his table and asked if he was okay. He did not answer for about a full minute, then looked at me and said, “I’m really nervous. My dad’s been in jail and I haven’t seen him in three years. He’s picking me up from school today.” This 8th grader was dealing with some serious stuff and no one knew. 

You never know unless someone chooses to share. 

So it couldn’t hurt to just be a little kinder, a little more patient with everyone, because you just don’t know what they are going through.