My Supports

 

The factors in my daily environments that are supportive to me are my mom, sister, pastors, co-worker, and my children. Notice I mention environments because I am thinking about how my support differs depending on which environment I am in such as home or school. My mom, sister, pastors, and children provide support to me in my home environment. In specific, my mom offers her support through her encouraging words, prayers and by allowing me to get some time to myself as she watches her grandchildren. My sister is my "right hand man". She has been by my side to offer her support in so many ways during some very difficult times in my life through encouragement, offering her assistance around my house and with the children as needed, and just being available so I can "vent". In addition, my pastors have been my mentors providing their advice centered on biblical principles regarding issues such as finances and life circumstances. My children, although they are young offer their support because they assist around the house and provide me with encouraging words and statements usually at the time that I need them the most. Lastly, my co-worker has been a support for me within the classroom and in my life, in general. We have a good personal relationship and she supports my ideas/opinions regarding how to be a more effective educator and in the classroom as a whole. She allows me to be myself and respects my views regarding education. In addition, because we work so closely together in our classroom she knows a lot about my family life and vice versa. She has offered her support through her advice and encouragement.

Furthermore, in revisiting the issue of spirituality, it has been the glue that holds all of my relationships within my support system together. Therefore, all of my supports have very similar and equally strong beliefs regarding spirituality as I do (my children are the exception because their beliefs are being shaped by their environment and experiences). The benefits of these relationships are that each of them provides me with the motivation I need to better myself and my family. They encourage me to be the best person that I can be in every area of my life. As a result, it would be extremely difficult to exist without these supports because everybody needs somebody or something that encourages them to be better. The impact from a lack of these supports would be very detrimental to me and I don't think I would be able to successfully function.

So, in imagining my life without these supports, which I could not imagine, but for the purpose of this task I have to consider how my life would be. Without, someone who supports me in my classroom like my loving coworker who allows me to grow and develop as an educator, I would not be able to grow.  Hence, I would be in a place that is stagnant professionally. I definitely need to have a partner/co teacher who supports me in my development and vice versa. In addition, if I did not have someone to mentor me such as my pastors, it would take me longer to accomplish the goals I have for the future. I know that in order to be a leader in the field of education, I need to be organized because I will have a lot more responsibilities with my future career. So, I would need a mentor to provide assistance and guidance in helping me to get more organized in my finances and in life. If my children were not around to assist me around the house, I would hire a maid or have to complete all the housework on my own (tragic). But, I could manage that. In addition, if I did not have the encouragement and support from my support system, I would have to be my own cheerleader and during the difficult times it would be harder to overcome the challenges of life. Last, but not least, without a belief in something higher than myself when all of my other supports are non-existent, my quality of life would be very low. It is so important to have belief, faith in something bigger than you. Ultimately, without my supports, my life really would be miserable and without purpose. For example, having children motivates a good parent to strive for a better quality of life for them.  So, my perspective is that life would be a sad and lonely existence……