I’ve been thinking a lot about the teachers I had growing up. We all have stories of not so good ones. But what about the great ones? It’s no secret that our early years define us. Besides the influence of our parents, teachers play a great part in our upbringing too. For some of us, our teachers provided us with some much needed external space to grow outside the boundaries of family expectations.
I was reminded of how special one of my teachers was in my life- although at the time I didn't realise it- when I was invited to speak at my primary school. Her name was Mrs. Stafford and she expected much from us. She never underestimated our capability and because of this she called on us to stretch ourselves beyond what we feared our limitations might be. She combined maternal care coupled with firm but fair justice in the classroom. There were no favourites, no bullies, just effort and execution to the BEST of each pupil’s ability. I’ll never forget the essay she assigned to us simply titled “If”. She left no instruction and we were to write anything our imaginations could muster. That kind of unbridled freedom to write our own stories and her confidence in us left me feeling that I could do anything… It’s a feeling of creative freedom that stays with me till this day and I think has helped me step into a career as an entrepreneur to found fabuwellness. Even though I was scared…. I jumped anyway!
Coincidentally (although I am a big believer in the universe lining things up…) this week’s podcast on the Laura Dowling Experience features teacher Brian Keane who left teaching to pursue his dream of fitness coaching. We discuss the mindset he needed to reset in order to face his fears of leaving a ‘safe job’ in order to pursue another deemed higher risk because he would be all on his own…. It’s a great conversation about digging deep into your own dreams, harnessing the nervous energy and rechanneling that into a creative force for your own future!
Were you lucky to have that one teacher who really believed in you? Who pushed you? Who championed your dreams? Let us know by direct message to our fabuwellness page and we’ll pick 3 TOP TEACHER story winners to receive our fabÜ FOCUS BRAIN supplement to help keep your ideas flying free!
Laura x
