A Sabbatical Conversation

Sometimes its just a matter of being done.  There are so many places where good work needs to be done, and the need for good work to be done is an energizing reality.  At the same time, if the good work always needs to be done when does it become personally counterproductive to expend energy in the doing?

Yesterday's sabbatical conversation was with someone who shared that they were at a workshop recently and in the face of so many great ideas and strategies for change she thought, "yes, but..." and it's that "but" that is the killer.  It is the thing that allows the fear of hopelessness to become the controlling feature of attitude toward belief.

I have always liked this quote from Dune, "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."  It goes on from there with some interesting insights into overcoming fear, but this idea that fear is death is powerful to me.  Not that I am fearful of failure so much as fearful of wasted energy.  Or maybe of purposelessness.  

Or maybe I like this quote because it is the fear of change that prevents the essential shift in education that is required in order for us to serve kids.

Wherever the fear is coming from, when you hit a point where you are learning new and amazingly cool things and all you can think is, "I will never be able to implement any of this in my context."  Then it's time to find a new context.