Books I read November 2018 and things I learned

The Visitors by Sally Beauman **

This was about a girl who was visiting Egypt with her governess and their social circles intersected with the archaeologists who found King Tut's tomb.  It was TOO long.  The book was very interesting at times but dragged to an uninteresting whimper by the end.  It felt like the author had three books and tried to mash them together.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman ***

So good.  So crude.  I skimmed a lot of it, especially every time they were in the hockey locker room.   It's about a small town in Sweden (Beartown) and a hockey team and a community rocked by an accusation.

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I listen to a podcast, The Next Right Thing, by Emily P. Freeman.  (I recommend it a million times.)  She recently talked about a quarterly reflection she does.  Each season, she stops to consider what she learned.

So here's my feeble initial attempt to do the same.

Here's what I learned in Autumn 2018:

I absolutely love being in an elementary school.  It is dramatic (blood and temper tantrums and escapees) and loving (I get hugs and compliments and shy waves and big smiles all the time) and so very fulfilling (teaching and watching children learn is my happy place).

It's been challenging to start working outside my home after such a long hiatus.  Even though I only work part time, it's been a full time change.  It's a huge adjustment and has required me to alter my expectations and to do list.

I don't have as much time to read or do other leisure activities.  And that's OK.

(Reading is less OK, but I need to remember how much I love being at school and recognize that I am choosing something else to fill me up.  Everything has a season and I'll have chances to read more--here's looking at you Christmas vacation.)

I like podcasts and listening to the Book of Mormon.  I didn't used to be very good at listening but I'm getting better at it.  I need to practice listening to audio books.  And choose books well.  I was listening to one and realized that when I can't skim over bad language but have to hear it, it feels different.  I started a book by an author I usually enjoy (Liane Moriarty), but I ultimately abandoned listening.  Because I couldn't skim.

I'm learning (and likely still need to learn more) that 90% of the angst I feel is because of my own wrong expectations.

I need to work on that....