As the year wraps up to a close, I’m spending time to review and reflect some of the things I’ve learned this year and lessons I’ll take with me to the future.

I’ll do this more in-depth next week as I wrap up the year in a whole. But I want to take today to talk about a lesson I’ve really learned this year and share it with you. And that lesson is the title of this post: challenge your thoughts.

We have a lot of thoughts, ideas, passions, and even assumptions. Some are good, and some are bad. You learn by challenging those thoughts you have. Some good thoughts, when challenged, just grow stronger. And some thoughts, when challenged, find they just don’t hold up.

I’ve learned so much this year. I’ve learned about myself, I’ve learned new information, and I’ve learned how to be a better person (at least I hope).

I have assumptions. I have prejudices. I am so thankful that I have the ability and opportunity to have those challenged and questioned. For example, I had a rough experience in a city a number of years ago, to the point where I didn’t want to visit that city again. However, I had an opportunity to visit that same city this summer for a completely different reason. Let me tell you, I had a great time! The trip this summer was incredible and I learned so much. I’m so thankful I had the ability to go again and that I took the chance.

I’m constantly learning more about myself. My thoughts and beliefs about who I am seem to get challenged daily. Some stay, and some go. But that’s growth. If I were to stay the same the whole time, I would never improve. I would never do better. And how boring that would be!

I think I’ve learned more this year because I’ve had the ability to have my thoughts challenged. I’ve grown and developed. I’m stronger in some beliefs because of this year.

As a teacher, I’m always expected to learn more to help my profession. And I love that I can. I’ve taken a number of opportunities to increase my knowledge for myself and my students. If I learn more, then I can translate it for my students to learn more. The more I learn, the more I teach. The more my students learn, the better they become. I’m always trying to learn to help both myself and my students.

This post is a little shorter, and that’s okay. I’ll wrap up the year next week and maybe talk more in depth about some of these other things as well.