Means So Much

I know I’ve written this before, but trust me, if I would have written this every time I’ve thought it, it would be here every day this summer: Grade eleven… it’s going to count. This is what I know. This year is going to be extremely hard, and very serious at some times. Not just the classes. I’m not sure why I think this, but I feel that there are going to be issues in some close friendships this year. Similar to but more severe than the ones in grade ten. And I know in these times I’m going to go running to God, and sit there, and cry just like I’ve done before. I know I’m going to cry this year, but someone will always be there.

This year is going to be like every year in that there are going to be teachers that I dislike at first, but gradually warm up to them, get used to them, and eventually regard them as a friend. This has only not happened with two teachers in my entire educational career. And they hated me first. This year is going to be like every year in that there are going to be teachers that I would go to the ends of the earth to please, because they won my respect quickly, which frankly, isn’t hard.

Grade eleven is going to be the beginning of the shaping of the personality I’ll have for the rest of my life; therefore, I’m going to try my very hardest each day to put forth my best. To learn all I can, to become insightful, to pay attention, to be polite, and most of all, to love people with all of my heart. Already I have been given the role of ‘listener’ in many relationships. It honors me to no extent to have someone tell me that they can tell me anything. Someday when I’m wiser, perhaps I’ll be granted both the roles ‘listener’ and ‘advisor’, but for now, I am very content with what I have.

I want to work on my communication skills this year, which means talking slowly enough to think about what I’m saying, to not get excited or flustered, to be articulate and expand on vocabulary, and to avidly avoid interrupting others.

So I said this year is going to be hard, and maybe it will be. But the people who come out of this year by my side, our relationships will be all that much stronger. My friends, my role models, you mean so much to me.