When I was a child, I was full of hope for the future. I thought that I would be a waitress, or a flight attendant – maybe a firefighter or a doctor.  My mom called me “Little Miss Sunshine” because I would sing, dance and skip around the house while I played with my two sisters and brother.

I did my school work, more or less.  I had fun at school and loved playing sports, learning to play the guitar and working on projects with my friends. Collecting smelly stickers was also great fun. I liked school, although speaking French all day got tiring (I was in a French Immersion Program where we did all our learning in French).

My report cards were pretty good, except in grade 4, when my parents were fighting a lot. I was not so happy then. Luckily, my school basketball coach, Mr. Borkowski, took me under his wing and allowed me to join the basketball team a year early.  Basketball was a welcome distraction.

In junior high and high school I got busy playing as many sports as possible. Volleyball, basketball, soccer and tennis jammed up my schedule. I fit sleep and my homework haphazardly around my sports schedule. I didn’t know what I wanted to be “when I grew up” I just knew that it wouldn’t be a teacher – no…not a Phys. Ed. Teacher like everyone expected.  And definitely not a French teacher!

At Simon Fraser University I had the luxury of sampling many courses, as my dad was a tenured professor there. I took Archaeology, Philosophy, Physics, Biology, Poetry, Visual Arts, Women’s Studies and French. Eventually I focused on my passion for human biology and sport and studied Kinesiology, Ecology, Genetics, Biomechanics, Anatomy and Physiology.

When the deadline to decide what I would do after university arrived, I thought I would like to be a physiotherapist, a massage therapist or maybe a teacher. Teaching would give me the opportunity to coach, and my coaches had certainly changed my life for the better.

By the time I had assembled all the paperwork and writing assignments required to apply to Simon Fraser University’s Professional Development Program (i.e. teacher training), I was too exhausted to even consider applying to physiotherapy or massage therapy programs.  All my eggs were in one basket. Luckily, I was accepted into the Program at SFU’s Faculty of Education. My experience as a student teacher is a whole other story. Suffice it to say, it was not at all what I expected.

I made it through that experience and became a certified teacher and was lucky enough to be hired on at an incredible school. I poured my heart and soul into being the best teacher I could be for many years. And for a lot of those years I was a Phys. Ed and French teacher.  Eventually, I was married to a wonderful man, and we had two daughters.

In my 30s, I remember asking myself often: “But how am I doing, really? I think that my life is going according to plan, but where do I need to be focusing more attention? Where am I doing exceptionally well? I don’t seem to get any feedback on how I’m doing anymore! I want a grown up report card!”

Now I realize that one of our “grown up” duties is to write our own report cards according to our own goals, philosophies and values.

So how are you doing? In which areas of your life are you excelling? Where can you put more attention or change your strategy? And where can you do better?

Consider these questions and then write your own report card.  Then let’s work on making the report card you write for yourself next year even better!

We appreciate you taking the time to read this article and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.  And if you liked this article, share it!

If you enjoyed this article, check out: