Success

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded.” 
― Bessie Anderson Stanley, 

In this life, we strive to be successful. Being successful means different things for different people. For me, being successful means feeling proud of my accomplishments, learning from my mistakes, and walking away feeling happy. In many ways, happiness equals success for me.

The past couple of weeks were incredibly busy for me. Throughout my life, I've learned how I handle feelings of being busy, feeling like I'm barely holding on. In the past, I've let those feelings take over. I've let them get the best of me. This time, however, I stood strong in the face of those feelings. I focused on the positive, remembered to breathe, and told myself how good it was going to feel when I accomplished all that I was striving for. My affirmations paid off.


My dear colleague and friend, Cevia, and I just returned from our travels to Mexico City. As a reward for our hard work over the past couple of weeks, and to ensure that we immersed ourselves in local history and culture, one of the first things that we did was visit the Teotihuacan pyramids. We arrived in Mexico City at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday morning and by 1:00 p.m. we were standing on top of an ancient pyramid. Though we were tired and the altitude challenged us, we made it to the top of both pyramids, providing a sense of success; our first feeling of accomplishment in our travels to Mexico City. Although, it's safe to say that boarding our plane and arriving in Mexico was a sense of accomplishment in and of itself.

We traveled to Mexico to present at the ANGLO Forum Conference. One of our presentations was a workshop on Project Based Learning (PBL), a method of teaching that engages students in communicative tasks that they work on in small groups in order to complete a final product. Our other presentation was a demonstration of online tools that can be used to increase English language learners' speaking and listening skills. Preparing for these presentations added extra work to our already hectic schedules. However, the extra work and preparation that we put into these presentations paid off. They were a huge success.

In the PBL workshop, we witnessed a room full of engaged participants working together to complete the tasks we had designed. We received positive feedback and gratitude for the experiences we provided.

The "wow" factor that we received for our demonstration of online speaking and listening tools was thrilling. After the presentation was over, we felt like we were walking on clouds. Feeling the admiration and appreciation from experienced professionals in our field was a true honor.

Persevering throughout the last couple of weeks, reminding myself to stay positive and breathe, not letting the feeling of being too busy overwhelm me, all contributed to the success I felt upon finishing both the presentations, networking with professionals in the English language teaching field, and being able to truly enjoy the experience of another culture. Upon returning, I feel happy. I feel successful. And it feels good.