Hazards & Hilarity: Succos Insecurities
| October 13, 2016
Photo: Shutterstock
Are you feeling sorry for me yet? Because in the last two columns I told you about having a hard time in elementary school having a hard time in camp and then having a hard time in high school.
I did have a hard time. And this column is going to be about being miserable on Yom Tov. And the whole friends’ saga in which I worried all day if I had friends if those friends I wasn’t quite sure I had would invite me over on Yom Tov afternoons if somebody would call me to ask me to join them on a Chol Hamoed outing if I’d have someone to sit with on the Chol Hamoed trip my school organized.
But you don’t need to feel sorry for me because it’s actually a great thing that I had all these problems. Because now I get to write these columns. If I’d had had a boring teenage life who’d want to listen to my sage advice? Would you want to listen to a story that sounds like this? I was a very good girl. I always listened to my parents. I always liked what my principals and teachers had to say and I was an excellent student with a billion friends. I was happy well liked smart talented and always Head of Something because I did everything right.
So back to the silver lining. My challenges help me realize now what teens need to be normal act normal and be happy. To be a writer it’s best to have some miserable stuff to write about.
And believe it or not I became a teacher for teenagers. I knew all about lousy teenagers so I knew how to control a class — because the number one thing a teacher needs to do to be a great teacher is protect the class from getting out of control. Kids don’t like those types of teachers. Especially kids who can’t control themselves. They need the safety of a teacher who not only teaches in an interesting way and cares about her students but who can first create a safe place for them to be in control so they can learn and feel their teacher’s caring.
And then believe it or not I became a psychologist and I love working with teens. They’re fun and interesting and funny and exciting. They keep me on my toes. They keep me so much on my toes that sometimes I think I can become a ballet dancer. I recognize a little of myself in each and every one of them. And it’s all because of my own challenges as a teen.
So once again you don’t need to feel sorry for me because everything turned out perfectly for me. I have great kids. I connect to my teen clients and readers because I can relate to their hardships and I’ve grown from my life in ways that have made me a better more sensitive and more appreciative kind of person.
But in any case back to my Succos problems.
I dreaded Shabbos and Yom Tov. Like seriously dreaded it.
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