The Pursuit of Happiness

WOW!  It's  been exactly two weeks since I posted!  *hides head in shame*  I said I was going to do much better, but life happens.  Any who, I am still on the search to finding what makes me happy.  In this attempt, I hope that I can grab something and run with it like I'm trying to win the 400m Olympics!  That is in reference to my high school teammate, Olympian, and the 5th fastest woman in the WORLD, Ms. Francena McCorory!  If you don't know her follow her on Facebook or Instagram @therealmccorory!  I felt that this quote was inspiring and makes me want to purse my passion that much more.  No time is perfect, but at the end of the day there is always TIME!  I hope you all are enjoying your days.  We are fifteen days into the New Year!  What have you done that matters to you?!?

Peace and Happiness!

~Erika~

Make your next move your best move....

I have decided that instead of talking about it, I will BE about it.  There are so many thoughts that I have daily and I go back to asking myself "What am I doing wrong?"  And over the weekend I found out what I was doing wrong.  Nothing...absolutely NOTHING!  The reason I'm not where I want to be is because all I do is talk about it.  I'm not about that life!  LOL!  It comes to a point in life where instead of someone else telling you that you you're not about that life, you have to tell yourself!  And that's when you realize that you are making the most important move in your life.  Over the weekend I decided that whatever it was that I wanted to do, I was going to pursue it.  Doesn't matter how tired I am, how late I am, nothing is or will from now on stop me from having more than what I have in life.  I hope that I can touch someone to tell themselves that it's more to life than the day to day of it.  And if you recently made a change and find yourself getting back into a routine, change it again!  It's been over seven months since I made the drastic change of moving out of state and I am finding myself back into a day to day routine.   No, sir.  Not me!  *in my Rozay voice*  I refuse to be caught up in something that makes me stressed, looking for more, and unhappy!  No more!  So stop babying yourself, pull up your big girl drawls and go reach for the dream.  Whether small or big, it's your dream and no one can tell you otherwise.  Stay blessed.

Do incentives encourage good behavior or delay gratification?!?

As some may or may not know, I am a Professional School Counselor for a charter school and I work with K-1 students.  The argument within the school, with administration, is that we should not have to place incentives in place for students to behave or “do what they are supposed to do.”  While I am all for this tactic, with students who already know how to behave, I don’t think this tactic works too well when you have students who come from lower-income families, have four to six older or younger siblings at home, and have no sense of respect for authority.  Hell, they barely listen to their parents, if they aren’t getting beat upside the head first.  I had to think back to my childhood days.  Was it my behavior that allowed me to go to after school skating EACH and EVERY Wednesday after early release?  Was it my behavior in school that allowed me to spend countless days and nights at my cousin’s house as we did our chores and waited for TGIF to come on ABC?  I would have to say that most, if not all, adults had experiences in their childhood where their behaviors affected how they would be rewarded at home.  I can recall a time I had gotten in trouble (can’t recall if it was at school, mostly likely at home), but I was allowed to still go skating after school.  The only catch….I couldn’t skate that day.  Do you know how it felt to be an experienced skater at eight years old and not be able to skate with the other kids and literally watch everyone roll by me for five hours!?!  You can BEST believe I didn’t get in trouble anymore where my after school rights were taken from me.  So why is it such a problem now that we all of a sudden expect for kids five through seven to automatically know what to do?  They also understand that if they don’t follow directions or listen there isn’t a consequence for them anyway!  These kids are so needy why not feed into that need!?  Also, why not feed into what we the teachers and staff want and that is to go home happy because at least 80% of our students where successful behaviorally, academically, and socially?  The saying is “Insanity:  doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Well there are only so many times I can tell a child to sit down, be quiet, and listen without driving myself to the point of no return myself.  You be the judge…