By ABBY WILLIAMS
Sheridan High School Teacher
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams, who begins this year’s series.
I am happy to be once again starting this year’s series of student articles with one of my own. I feel a lot of gratitude that people want to read my students’ stories and also that Jeff Jellison and the Reporter allow us to continue with the series.
Last school year was a challenge for everyone: students, teachers, school staff, and families. In my 18 years in education, I have never experienced anything so emotionally and mentally difficult, and that’s with the benefit of an adult perspective. I know our kids struggled even more.
I’ve found that the reason the pandemic is so hard to deal with emotionally and mentally is due to all the uncertainty it brings about. At school, we’re all in the same boat, meaning all the kids and all the adults, because of one thing: we never know what’s going to happen next. Will I be quarantined? Will I get COVID? Will I miss football games? Will the school move to e-learning? Will I have to wear a mask? Will someone I care about be very sick or even die?
All this uncertainty, this unknown, is so hard! We, as humans, make our lives manageable by creating routines, so we know what to expect. Routines make us more comfortable. Research even shows that creating routines in classrooms help students feel safe and able to learn, especially students who have experienced trauma in their lives. So, when the pandemic takes away the things we have previously counted on, it’s scary and draining!
What I’ve experimented with and found to be helpful in the face of this uncertainty is the idea of radical acceptance. Radical acceptance is the idea that a person accepts the moment or the situation as-is, acknowledges they can’t control it, and just goes with it, without judging it. Many of us spend minutes or hours each day mulling over or playing out future scenarios, trying to imagine what tomorrow will bring and how we will encounter it when it comes. With radical acceptance, we can let go of all of that, and just know that the future will come, we can’t control what will happen, and we will take what comes and deal with it the best way we can.
For me personally, this idea is helpful. I can’t always maintain that attitude of radical acceptance, but when I can, I do feel a sense of relief, almost as if the weight of that worry is off of me. Another part of this to consider is, if a person stops spending those minutes or hours thinking about or worrying about the future, then those minutes or hours could open up for other, more relaxing or restorative activities. For me, this means I spend more time reading, gardening, and working out.
As we move forward into more uncertain times, I hope to accept what happens, knowing that I can’t control the future. I also hope to make the best of it and enjoy each moment as it comes. For our students, I wish the same: that they can find ways to manage this stress, worry a bit less, and spend time doing things that make them feel a little better. I wish that for us all.