I went to a music festival this past weekend and lost my voice yelling and screaming.
…Makes things kind of tough when you come back to work as a teacher.
But, what was interesting is that it made me perceive all of my daily communication challenges differently—a forced perspective change if you will.
And so rather than greet everybody with an over the top volume… today, I greeted everybody with claps and a whisper.
Rather than communicate with my instructors and staff in one broad stroke of my voice… I met each of them where they were and communicated individually.
…Which, interestingly enough, made me do the same with the students. Rather than ask the class questions, I asked each student individually. Rather than delegate after class helping, I spent a little extra time whispering answers to the ones who asked. And rather than control the whole dialogue of the class, I delegated and had students and other staff members get involved.
Having no voice as a teacher can undoubtedly be a challenge… but it doesn’t have to be a problem.
Inner Work Prompt: What are you looking at as a problem that might be better percieved as a challenge?