When I was a kid, school didn't start in August. It was something like early or mid-September. It felt like school time, like the changing of the seasons, and for the most part I looked forward to all of that. There was one thing that never seemed to change, and that was that strange first-day-of-school feeling I had every single year. You know what I'm talking about, right? It was a whole new adjustment to so many new things, and I am usually not about adjusting but rather routine.
I both loved and dreaded that new feel to things that the beginning of school brought with it. There were new clothes, new shoes, new school supplies (nerd alert!) and the chance to see my friends more often. But there were also new teachers, new judgments or looks from the kids who fit in when I did not, the worry of not being able to pick up and learn new things...and of course I didn't voice all of these concerns and find out that, most likely, tons of other kids felt the same way. I wish it didn't take us so long in life to figure out that we are all so much more alike than we realize, that we all have so many of the same fears and anxieties as our peers.
So here's the question for today: What did (or does) starting a new school year bring up for you mentally and emotionally? Did you look longingly forward to that first day of school, or were there things you dreaded about that one day every year?
