First Day Jitters

Summer is over, and it's time to return to school for another year of learning.  You walk down the hall, feeling a little nervous.  You might have even had a dream about it last night.  You wait for your classes, not sure of what the year will bring, whether or not each class will be difficult or easy. 

This scenario is familiar to students, but what you may not know is that it is also the first-day experience of most teachers.  Just like students, teachers also don't know what the year will bring, whether they'll be accepted, and whether they'll be caught unprepared at some moment.  Last week, one of our teachers (who is in her fifth or sixth year) said, "I still get nervous."  I'm in my 21st year, and I do too.  I said to her that the year I'm not nervous on the first day is probably a sign I should quit. 

While we think of nervousness as a negative feeling, there are some positive things about it.
1.  It shows you care about what you are doing. 
2.  Nervousness has exactly the same physiological symptoms as excitement.  They are only different if you think they are.
3.  Nervous energy is just that, energy.  Your body recognizes that you are going to do something difficult and gives you the energy to do it.  On a recent episode of the TED Radio Hour, Kelly McGonigal said the answer is to stop fighting it and be grateful that your body is giving you the energy you need.

Depending on where you go to school, your first day might be tomorrow or three weeks from now.  Students will be nervous.  Parents will be nervous.  Teachers will be nervous.  Even administrators will be nervous.  Let's all take a moment to thank God that he designed our bodies in such a way that they know we need extra energy and have mechanisms to provide that for us.