Week 4 Reading

In Chapter Nine, the story of the "Certain things in life are better done in person" really struck a chord with me! I agree fully with this statement. Many times when people hear you on the phone they are not thinking you are a real person, you are just the voice on the other end of the phone, but when you can put a face with the voice something amazing happens. You become real!! A face is much harder to forget than a voice on the other end of the phone! Now, the chapter went on the talk about when you reach a person with a no on their lips. I also really felt that the comment about not taking the no personally was really great advice. I know that I do take things way to personally sometimes. My husband is constantly setting me straight, by trying to explain that sometimes things don't happen to me, they just happen. I am sometimes very pessimistic and feel that everything is personal. I have recently been able to separate the personal from school. I feel I do this better in my professional life than in my personal life. My first year of teaching was very hard for the very reason that I took everything the students did personally. Then my second year of teaching I completely changed my outlook and did not allow myself to think in that way. Wow, what a difference it made!! I was a much happier person my second year of teaching. Now, this is my third year and I am even happier this year than last!! As long as I continue to work on my outlook, I see happy years in the future.