Have you ever done something out of your comfort zone, where you doubted yourself, felt nervous, had an indecisive moment? A friend once told me to "let my faith be bigger than my fear." At the moment, I thought it was beautiful advice and even stronger when I got home and analyzed the words of my friend's advice. What is my fear? How big is my faith? I realize that I face my fears everyday, especially when I stand in front of my students. There are many situations going on in those classrooms that I don't know of, but must identify based on student emotions and reactions to the lessons. How do I know that my lessons will run smoothy and continue without interruptions which will result in many, many wonderful successes?Successes that allow my students to demonstrate great attributes and abilities. Then, I took the question of faith and fear out of the classroom and applied it to my personal life, specifically my love of running. Last year, I faced a fear. I SIGNED UP FOR A HALF MARATHON!!! What did I just do? Why did I just sign up for this race? How am I going to run 13.1 miles?!?! Well, I found a plan. After speaking to many friends and asking them about their experiences, as well as reading articles in my beloved "Runner's World" magazines, I found a plan. A plan to face my fear. I started in July and 12 weeks later in October, I ran my half marathon. Guess what?! To my utter surprise, the plan worked! I ran my pace that I had practiced and trained for over the 12 weeks. I felt good. Real good....AND REAL PROUD! I felt like I had conquered the world. If you had told me 6 years ago that I would run a half marathon, I would laugh at you and think that you've "lost your marbles"! I did it! I reached for the stars!
P.S. I'm running my second and third half marathons this fall! I'm so excited!!!!
Have you faced a fear? Lived outside your comfort level? How did you feel before and after you faced your fear?
VOCABULARY
indecisive (adjective) -- not settling an issue; undecided; unclear
fear (noun) -- an unpleasant emotion because you feel that something or someone is a threat; terror; fright
analyzed (verb) -- past tense of analyze; to examine in detail; studied; inspected
identify (verb) -- to indicate who or what something is; recognize; name; know
interruptions (noun) -- break; pause; gap
successes (noun) -- the accomplishment of a goal; prosperity; triumph; wealth
attributes (noun)-- a characteristic of someone or something; quality; feature; trait
utter (adjective) -- complete; absolute
conquered (verb) -- past tense of conquer; to overcome and take control; defeat; beat; master
VOCABULARY EXERCISE
Cloze exercise: Please fill in the incomplete sentences by selecting from the above vocabulary words.
1. Lisa couldn't talk on the phone without any ______________________ from her two kids.
2. The scientists _____________________ their results to see if they ______________________ their goal in the experiment.
3. When it came to picking a college, Paul was very ___________________. He wanted to go to all the colleges that had accepted him.
4. When he left the place, it was in an __________________ mess.
5. I had a _________ that I would fall down the stairs.
6. After Ms. Smith played review games with her students, there were many _________________ on Friday's spelling test.
7. Verizon hired Mark as the manager, because he had all the _________________ of a leader.
8. Can you _________________ the man in this picture?
GRAMMAR POINT
A verb is a word that expresses action, what a person/object does or doesn't do. Verbs can be expressed in many tenses. In my above blog about facing my fears, I used many verbs in the past tense. Many times I add an "ed" to my verbs. Examples from my blog are doubted, faced, practiced, and trained. Please write 4 sentences describing a time where you faced a fear. Please use at least one verb from the vocabulary list and underline the verbs that you have added an "ed" to express the past experience.
