Friends,
Today's word from the retirees/sages is "nuture." I urge you to nurture those around you.
As a theatre teacher, chances are you are passionate about your work. As you work on new productions each season and watch your students grow, it is easy to be invested in your work: rehearsals, planning meetings, costume fittings, set building; it's all interesting and time consuming. Your texts and study guides change regularly with each new production. You arrange your life around your seasons, and your days are full.
So now, I'm telling you to add one more thing to your plate? Yes, make time, even just a little, to nurture other parts of your life: your extended family, your college friends, your valued colleagues (notice I didn't say all your colleagues), your neighborhood.
Chances are, we can all name sacrifices we have made for our art/work because they conflicted with our production seasons: barbecues, weddings, ball games, perhaps a relationship. Some of you are excellent time managers. You never forget a birthday. You regularly contact old friends and make plans. You schedule vacations, hobbies, and family time and you do it all. I applaud you. But there are others of us who may need a little reminder from time to time that nurturing those around us is a reciprocal action that will benefit us all in the coming days. It is as important as that costume fitting or other immediate deadline.
Today, your day is full. You have commitments and schedules. So let me just plant a little seed: NURTURE those in your world (and ultimately yourself) for the future.
Debbie Corbin,
Retired, Branson (MO) High School
EdTA president, 2017-9