Everyone hopes to have a person that can help figure out and navigate their lives. Someone that can provide encouragement when needed, give personal feedback, be a listening ear, or a shoulder to cry on when life gets too overwhelming. Let’s be honest, not everyone is so generous with their time. It makes me realize that when I do find a person that makes these altruistic sacrifices, it makes me glad to have them in my life. I truly believe that the certain kind of encouragement that we seek, lies in the little things that people do for each other. It doesn’t necessarily have to be some grand gesture because even the littlest moments count.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane. I used to be very confused when I was in high school. I couldn’t think of anything to do after the final bell rang. Seriously, not a single clue. I wanted to do everything at the same time. It all started to sort out for me when a new teacher arrived in town. She was assigned to teach our class. My first impressions of her was that she seemed like a “normal” teacher. She almost seemed a little boring at first. She was an English teacher, and I thought that I would treat her class like how I usually do (a golden opportunity to take long naps).
Little did I know, everything started to change for me when she started teaching our class. The days of sleeping in English class were long gone! It was just the way she managed to steer the class in a positive direction. Let me tell you, it was absolutely fantastic! I went from someone that would settle for whatever she got in English to a person who never got anything less than A. I was apathetic when it came to learning languages at the time, but she gave me a change of heart.
You see… It all lies in the little things that she would do for our class. After we’ve completed a writing assignment, she would always leave a little note of encouragement at the very end of our paper. She would thank us for the effort that we put in. She would encourage us to use more adjectives, and even tell us why. If we made mistakes, she would assure us that it’s okay to be imperfect, and would tell us “It’s okay, you can try again next time!”
She lit a spark in me that I never even knew existed. I remember her kind comments on my work until this day. She was truly a stroke of inspiration, she wrote at the end of my paper, saying "OMG I love all the characters haha, you're so creative! I would love to know how the story ends!" Ever since then, all of my essays were 5-6 pages long. I started to love writing. She even gave me some English novels for inspiration, most of which were thriller novels. One that’s close to my heart is The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith.
She would ask me to help my friends in class. At that time, it felt like a huge deal for me because I’m usually the one who needed help from others. It felt good for my self-esteem to know that a teacher trusted me not to steer my peers in the wrong direction.
She had an excellent teaching ethic. What’s amazing about her is that she never had anything negative to say about anyone or anything. Her positivity was radiant and it was what brought the class to life. She would go out on a limb to make sure that all her students had eaten breakfast (if not, she would even bring in some chocolates for you.) It was a refreshing way of encouraging class participation and gave us an incentive to answer questions.
The most important thing that I'm trying to highlight is that you may think that you can't impact someone because you don't have the capacity for it, but let me tell you this, you don't need to spend half your day to help someone. Be it a little note, a smile, or a greeting. People will notice. I am very proud of where I am in life right now, and it’s thanks to her. I now love reading and writing. I now love discovering new things, hell, I even love writing thesis papers.
The thing is, you don't have to be someone famous to inspire and leave an impact on others. You can be a teacher, a janitor, a police officer, an artist, or even a barista like myself, but you can still leave an impact and inspire others.
"The Sky Is Your Limit"
-Miss L.J. Ann (2015)
