I recently paid a visit to my mom and she had asked me to please install a handrail in the shower for her. No problem right? I’ve installed hundreds of shelves, picture frames, rails etc. You name it? I’ve hung it on the wall. This was a little different because it was in the shower, but what did I know? After doing some research I found out that you needed a diamond bit and some lubrication to be able to drill through the tile. No problem right? Sounds easy enough.
Well after I tackled some hurdles of not having a charged battery of my cordless drill, and then not being able to take the old bit out of the chuck, I was finally able to get started. I scored the tile as recommended and was ready to go. Yet as soon as I started drilling, it was bouncing all over the place. I could not get the bit centered on the hole. I went slow, I went hard, I went fast, no matter what I did, I could not get the bit to center where I needed to drill it. It was quite challenging. I began to grow frustrated. How could this be? Why was this bouncing all over the place I asked myself. Eventually, I slowed it down and gently guided the drill bit over the tile barely touching. I did this until it built a small groove into the tile which then locked the bit in to drill the proper hole. Why didn’t this happen originally? What was I doing wrong that it was bouncing all over the place? I was able to slow it down and dial into what I was doing.
Amazingly as I’m drilling holes in my mom’s shower, I began to think about our reopening of schools. It feels like it’s all over the place right? Whether you’re teaching virtually, hybrid, or all and in your classroom. It feels like it’s all over the place. The challenges we are facing have us bouncing all over. I feel you and I hear you. No worries. You will get this. You will be able to dial down just like I did with the drill. As you go through the hurdles and you feel like your drill is bouncing all over, go slow, focus and get it where you need it to be. You can do this and together we can do this.
While it is extremely challenging now, and new challenges are presenting themselves daily, this too shall pass. My good friend, sports psychologist Dr. Rob Gilbert always says: “It’s not what you are going through, it is where you are going to.” And where is it that you are going? You are going to learning, engagement, and have an amazing experience for kids in schools. This time of uncertainty will continue for an unseen amount of time. But it will have an end and we will get back to normalcy, in-person instruction, hugs and high-fives, smiles and more.
Let’s continue to give this great challenge our best, and just like that drill bit, while we may have started all over the place, eventually we found the spot where we needed to be. #KeepRolling. Keep drilling!
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