You are enough. Be relentless.

I am participating in the Writing Contest: You Are Enough, hosted by Positive Writer. .

This week I challenge you to consider the word relentless. Say it out loud. Relentless. Sounds cool, huh? Even whispered it rolls off the tongue like a battle cry lighting an internal fire fueled by everything it means to be human. When spoken out loud like a prayer, the word ignites the spark in us to create, pursue, and fight for what we want and what we believe. The word relentless conjures up the passion of thousands of years of human struggle and victory that have all led to this moment, to you. 

As an educator in a middle school, I am competing for my audience's attention every second of the day. Social media, online games, pop culture, hallway drama, and trouble at home all distract my audience away from my class. As a history teacher, I am not only fighting typical teen angst, but also challenged to carve out space to prove the importance of my field, a constant war that math, science, and engineering don't face. Now, I could go into how I wage that battle for attention, but I'd like to instead focus on the importance of being relentless. If you want to see an example of being relentless in education, check out this story. 

I've said this word to students struggling with test anxiety or learning disabilities and to fellow teachers fighting burnout, financial stress, and medical issues. I've said it to my son as he struggled to walk falling over and over again, only to get back up every time. Now, I'm whispering it to myself and you, my fellow writer. We are relentless. 

This post was one of the finalists on The Positive Writer page. To read the rest of it, click here or click on the image below.

Write on,

Kathryn