Meditate often on the swiftness with which all that exists and is coming into being is swept by us and carried away (Marcus Aurelius)

Photo by Georg Eiermann on Unsplash

Change is constant.

Recently, I heard a friend say, "I hate change".

To me, that is like saying, "I hate life", because change is constant. To get upset by change is to wrongly assume that stability is possible.

Schools are incredibly unstable places - every period is different, the students are different each day (not just behaviourally, but physically, and academically). The periods change at the end of every hour. There's a change-over and a new set of students arrives. Every day is different. In schools people come and people go constantly. Every year staff come and go, every student advances to a new year level. We are in a constant state of flux in a school.

No man steps in the same river twice (Heraclitus) - because the river has changed and so has the man.

I am in the process of a change to a new school. I am mindful that every school is different. I embrace that idea and I am excited by the prospect of having to learn new ways, meet new people, teach new students. That gives me a strong sense of purpose.

Some of my students and colleagues may have struggled to understand why I have changed schools. I loved my job, why would I change?

My former head of department said in his farewell speech to me that - at this point, "Warren has earned the right to go and do whatever he wants to".

I embrace the idea that everything is change, and in the end, it doesn't really matter because I can't control change. Yes, I made a conscious decision and applied to a different school, but I didn't control the outcome. Events have conspired to indicate that the time is right to change to a different place.

At this point, it feels right to go with that flow.