When Your Job and Life Passion Merge Together For the Good of Others

I love substitute teaching and I love to travel. For the first time since working at JSD, I put the two together with an amazing outcome. Working at the high school level has been very fulfilling. Hopefully by the end of the month I should have my 1983 Utah Teaching License reinstated since moving away. That means the substitute pay will go up almost $12 a day! (sidenote: teachers and subs should be paid better)

I have had the opportunity to work a lot with one particular high school close to my home. The staff and the teachers have been amazing. I have been given the opportunity to do three long term jobs at the school lasting for 6 weeks each. This really helps to build report with the students and staff when you are more consistent.  I am trained in the student system so I can do attendance and grades online and that alone gives you a better standing with the students. . . I have access to their grades in long term jobs! That helps them listen better, lol.

This last longterm job was in the FCCLA department teaching sewing. I am so thankful my grandmother taught me to sew when I was in the third grade! It was one of the best jobs ever. I was able to teach and sew for myself during my prep time. The students were scheduled to make drawstring bags for Apparel One. I was heading to South Africa at the end of this job and these bags were perfect to take to the village we were going to be visiting.

My travel buddy Mardell and I, filled the bags with school supplies and made room in our luggage for the bags. About two weeks before the sub job ended, Lois Nielsen a sewing teacher at another local high school, heard I was going to Africa through another substitute. We worked it out for me to pick up their sewing projects "Little Dresses For Africa," a few days before we left.  With full suitcases, Mardell and I were off to South Africa.

It was a wonderful trip scheduled through Fun For Less Tours out of Draper, Utah. We traveled through five countries, learned a ton of history, went on several land and water safari's and fell in love with the children. Their smiles are beautiful and they are so happy even with so little.

This is a link to the districts story about the students who helped with the projects.

JSD Students Help Children in Africa with Homemade Gifts From the Heart



The following are pictures I took of the children in the Zambian Village who benefited from the generosity of these high school students.

The village guide was given the bags and dresses to hand out. This helps to get them to those in the most need and helped keep us from getting mobbed!

I LOVE her smile!

"I have a question?"

All Depression is Not the Same!

I have been going to a team of doctors for chiropractic and physical therapy work. I noticed that everyone in the treatment area has different symptoms and different treatment. No one is on the exact same care plan. This is good because our issues are different. The same should go for cancer treatment, thyroid treatment, or any other medical issue. They should be specialized to the patient.

So why is it that people think depression is all the same and should be treated the same? This drives me crazy. In a recent conversation my daughter had with someone, he tried to convince her that she could just choose to be happier. Because CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) worked for him it will work for her. Using CBT and DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) can help many people and can be a great tool, but that doesn't mean it will work the same for all.

Take my late husband for example, on more than one occasion, I had walked in the room to find him staring down at his feet with no expression. He couldn't tell me the last time he ate or even if he needed to go the bathroom.

In that state of mind, no CBT or DBT was going to help him. So you say, practice when you are healthy so you can use it when you are not. That might work to a point, but when you have that deep type of depression that should be called a brain disease instead, that does not usually work.

I am no doctor. I am a widow that was a caregiver that spent everyday with my late spouse. I couldn't even get him to laugh at a joke when he was in a dark state of mind. He would stare at me blankly and try to comprehend what I was talking about.

The bottom line, one treatment does not fit all. Educate yourself. If you suffer from depression try everything you can to see what works including therapy, medications, sunlight, exercise, CBT, or DBT. Share what worked for you but do not assume it will be a fit for others. If you are a caregiver, make sure your loved one gets access to whatever is best for them. And then help educate others to get rid of the stigma with mental illness. No one asks for this disease. No one wants to spend days feeling like they are in a deep dark place. Love them, listen to them, and let them know you will be there for them. I love you Marie and all others who have to live with this awful brain disease.

Why, As A Woman, I Didn’t Need to March

            Marching with your fellow supporters might feel like a good thing to do and that is okay, but it is a one day event. Out of the millions of marchers, how many are doing something once a week to support their cause? It seems like it is mostly all talk and no action except for the one March that leaves thousands of dollars in waste to be picked up. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you shouldn’t march for a cause, I’m saying maybe we could do other things instead of or along with marching.

            I was raised to leave a place better than you found it. That alone would have made a huge difference on the way non-marchers viewed the Woman’s March.  It is like the “Occupy Wall Street” events. Nothing much was accomplished other than causing our tax dollar to be spent on clean up. Sure, the protesters had fun, they didn’t have to work or go to school, and they could sit and sing Kumbaya all day if they wanted.  But the least they should have done is clean up after themselves.  If you want your rights, you have to be willing to let others have theirs without making them feel less a person for their choice.

            If you want to see women’s rights taken care of then go do something like work in a woman's shelter or with the courts. Women caught in domestic violence situations often get re-victimized by police and courts, and it is not necessarily intentionally. Become an advocate for the abused woman and learn how to help them get out of those relationships. Help educate and teach job skills to lower income women who feel stuck and want out but don’t know how. Can you imagine if all those people who marched went home and made a difference by reaching out to help one woman instead of just marching? Thousands would truly be affected. Think of all that money spent in travel, posters, and hats that could have been donated to a local women's shelter. 

            I didn’t feel the need to march because I am trying to do something. It might not be much but it is something. My cousin and I run a Facebook page called “Healing For Women.” We try to make daily posts that can lift and educate women on abuse, narcissistic behavior, depression, suicide prevention, PTSD and other issues. I have watched my cousin Shareene use her personal experiences to get a woman to a safe house and away from her abuser.  I have cried with several of these women as they in confidence tell us how something we posted changed their lives.

The best way to empower women is to build each other up. Lets help each other feel validated by acknowledging our unique differences instead of tearing down our confidence with petty mean comments and cat fights. Value each woman and not just the ones that think the same as you. Teach the young girls within your influence to not compare themselves with others. Teach them to be kind and respectful. Teach them they look perfect just the way they are. Teach them to be inclusive. Teach them they can be happy right now and not when they reach some goal or they will always be chasing happiness.  And of course, teach them to smile. A smile can melt the angry heart, cheer the downtrodden, and help heal a broken heart.  Yelling in the streets that you are right and everyone else that believes differently is wrong doesn't do much to build and bring us unity as women. 

(I want to clarify that I had many good friends march, clean up, and not make others feel less of a woman for believing differently, unfortunately the media doesn't find them as news worthy)