*tap* *tap* *tap*

My foot bounces up and down as the minutes pass by. 20 minutes ago I was sitting in my room playing some ukulele to wind down from work, and now I’m in the Board of Education office for a job fair I didn’t know much about. I thought this would be a traditional fair atmosphere but instead I found myself sitting in a quiet intimate room with about 8 other people. The Facebook add only said it was for those interested in becoming a classroom/lunchroom aide, and a substitute as well. People my whole life have told me they see me as a teacher but I couldn’t personally see it. I mean the thought of anxious, overthinking, introverted me running a whole classroom for my life seemed like a task I wouldn’t even know where to start at. So many questions and thoughts ran through my head as I slowly waited for my turn to be interviewed. What were they going to ask of me? What if I wasn’t qualified enough? Am I wasting time and taking an opportunity from someone? All of these questions engulfed my mind but before I can even process them a lady came over as if she sensed the anxiety spilling out of me.

“Hi what are you here for?” She simply asked. I informed her of my interest in substitute teaching but how I never went to school for teaching so I was unsure of what I needed to do.

“Do you have 30 college credits?” She asked with a look of curiosity.

“Yes and I actually graduated with a degree in English,” I manage to get out before her eyes widen with excitement.

“Have you ever heard of alternate route teaching?” she questioned. From there on I was opened to a world I never knew even existed. A way to get my teaching certificate without having to go back to school and get my masters? It sounded almost too good to be true. but before I have time to study the new information, the well dressed man came out of his office asking for me.

 “Maybe this won’t be so bad” runs across the tracks of my brain as I step into the unknown.

*skip* *skip* *skip*

My feet can barely hit the ground as I’m running home in excitement. Mr. Batista the teacher didn’t sound too bad at all the more that it ran through my mind. Now I’m sure you are wondering what could’ve changed so much in the 30 minutes I spent in that room, and the answer is not anything crazy or some mind bending advice that opened the world up to me in a new perspective. Honestly, if anything, they just slowed me down and got me out of my own way. I was focusing on my end goal, where I’d retire, and what my ultimate mark would be on the world, which was way too much for a fresh graduate to be thinking about. Instead it was broken down into steps that made it more digestible for me. My fear of needing to go back to school was ultimately countered with this alternate route teaching. I think the most important part was that I felt like I was being heard as they talked to me. Being capable of relating to the professional world really opened my mind up and honestly silenced all my doubts. Looking back it feels like this is all things that I should have known, but the important part is that I have a plan now. I expressed my gratitude to them as I left for putting me on a path and one of the women said something that stuck to me. And I’m not sure will ever leave me.

“It’s okay Nick, we all just need someone to tell us we can do it. And I’m here to be that person and tell you that you can in fact do it.”

Happy Holidays everyone!