A Second Chance

As many of you know, I am a School Counselor, working with adult students in an evening high school program. Everyone who comes through my doors has dropped out of high school. Some students are returning to school because they are being forced to (the 16 year-olds in particular), but most of my students are there because they want to be there. They range in age from 16-80, which is why I love what I do.

Our students are far from traditional. Most of them have full time jobs, children and families. This makes coming back to school even harder for them. They are hopeful, but discouraged from the beginning. Some students have been out of school for so long, they feel it's just easier to stop coming to class when it isn't as easy as they hoped it would be.

This actually makes my job very enjoyable. I am a motivator. When a student starts to skip classes, I call them and encourage them to come back. They usually do.

Last night was the graduation for the Adult High School students I work with.

I have participated in 5 graduations through my career. I love graduation! Everyone is so optimistic and proud. This year, several of my students are going on to college to further their education.

However, what stuck with me last night was how grateful my students were. They felt they were being given a second chance.

Which, of course, got me thinking...

Imagine if everyone who has made a choice that didn't work in their favor had the gumption to take a second chance? Why can't everyone be as optimistic? So often, we believe that life is what it is, and it can't be changed. Personally, I come from the mindset of making lemonade out of lemons.

I think we could all use a healthy dose of daily optimism. Isn't each day a graduation, of sorts? We get a second chance with each rising sun. In my opinion, that should be incentive enough to look at things through rose-colored glasses once in a while.

As one of my students said to me, we all have the ability to see the value in taking chances.