Some times I tell myself...I am just a teacher or to strengthen my heart...I am a youth worker... Throughout the course of our lives we experience many endings and many beginnings. However, with each transition we have the opportunity to learn a great deal about ourselves and new things. So things are not as bad as it felt like in the beginning. To depart is a significant milestone in anyone's life and ushers in a time of separation and transition, requiring adjustment on both parties; the one letting go as well as the one leaving. Yet is much easier said than done...when the time came to break my day to day teacher+students connections it definitely took me a little bit longer than I thought to adjust to the change. The new reality was not just the absence of my former students but also the presence of new ones which required additional adjustments. From the outside everything looked normal and in place but deep within I felt the pain of separation that went far beyond simply missing my students after they we're gone. Letting them go felt like letting them walk down a dark tunnel all by themselves.
I was scared for them—those 9th-12th graders were huge!
But after we both learned to dive deep into the new experiences presented to us and embraced the change only then did my perspective of things started to change. In fact it started to get really interesting when I started to learn more about life through their experience. We use to talk about high school life in theory and based on my teen experiences but now we are talking about high school from their own first hand experiences. The thrill, fear, changes, and challenges. Yes, things are turning and I find myself some times being blown in a new directions which I am hoping would help me to understand teens better and enable me to usher our pre-teens at Community Hope in High school a bit more prepared. Teen life had always me worried and frustrated but now that I have my students going through this stage and high school, it suddenly became intriguing though still a little bit sensitive. It's inevitable.
Things are a little bit different now and high school is teaching them to take on new ideas, challenges and values but I have committed to keep the relationships going with some of my former students. I am thankful to still be apart of their lives and have a voice of guidance, though they are now beginning to learn to establish their teen's autonomy and independence.
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