NESSA’S NOTIONS: As easy as 1, 2, you must be kidding!
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By VANESSA W. SNYDER
Have you ever searched for the Easy Button? I need to find it – or a Lifeline – right about now. There must be a secret escape exit somewhere.
Some days on the doctoral journey, you just wish there was a safe word you could use to catapult yourself to completion.
Surprise, surprise. There are no shortcuts – and we knew that.
When my mind trails off after several hours on seemingly the same paragraph, I long for a quick fix. That Easy Button must be here somewhere.
Then reality eventually hits, and I realize there’s no “workaround” because I’ll just work myself right around to where I started. Or stopped.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m learning and growing and becoming an expert in a particular area of study. So, no, there’s no finagling. I don’t get to skip the hard parts on this journey – or any other journey for that matter – if I want to actually accomplish the thing I’m trying to accomplish.
Doing hard things requires doing hard things. So, whatever your thing is, just go ahead and do the thing: losing weight, quitting smoking, finishing school, cleaning your house, writing a book … whatever. Heed the Nike slogan.
There’s no use searching for the Easy Button. It doesn’t exist.
I know because I looked.
(A former journalist currently working on her doctorate in Social Emotional Learning, Vanessa is a dedicated and passionate educator in the DC Public Schools system. She loves learning, leadership, innovation, collaboration, and discovering new ways to drive student gains and support staff members).
