I see you.

When you break down in tears during your first year teaching, feeling like every other teacher seems to have it together. You are keenly aware that you definitely don’t.

I see you.

When you spend hours preparing for your big formal evaluation and your principal cancels on you last minute.

I see you.

When you see pictures on social media of staff members at a social event you definitely weren’t invited to and recoil, realizing you have no “teacher besties” and not many people really know you.

I see you.

When you decide to stay late and work until 7pm every night only to feel like you are barely doing what is required of you, let alone anything extra.

I see you.

When you nervously open that email to see a parent has sent you an angry message about how you forgot to check their child’s lunchbox to see if they ate everything.

I see you.

When a student yells “I hate you and I hate this class!” and you can’t say anything back. You take a deep breath, count to 10, and get ready to send a message to that same angry parent, knowing an angry message will be waiting for you the following day.

I see you.

When you’ve been juggling all of the things and forgot to send home the field trip slip or were 2 hours late submitting grades.

I see you.

This was emotional to write because these examples are personal. They are a window into what many teachers feel and go through daily, something many people have no idea about. The cost is enormous. The guilt, the stress, the overwhelm.

I’m not here to give advice or suggestions. Nor am I here to give platitudes and fake praise.

But what I do want to present to you is a thought. Something to wonder about.

What if the antidote to feeling unseen was intentionally seeing others?

Whenever I felt the most isolated and overwhelmed was when I turned my attention more onto my problems than on seeking others out.

This may sound counter cultural in our “You are your greatest ally” culture, but what if instead of focusing on where we aren’t being seen, we choose to see?

Choose to see the kid that no one talks to, the one that comes to school dirty, the one that is quiet and never participates. Recognize the unique gifts they have to offer. Give them a comfortable platform to share those gifts.

Choose to see the teacher that has few friends at work and silently struggles. Do more than compliment her. Recognize her unique gifts, offer to watch her class, ask for advice from her, and invite her into whatever you are doing.

Dare I say choose to see admin. See that they are probably carrying a load they don’t always want to carry. See that they also have an impossible job and receive very little recognition or encouragement. Write them a note, send them an email asking for professional advice, visit their office just to encourage them, rather than only coming to them with problems. (Hot Take: It’s not sucking up, it’s being a kind human)

Choose to see the “bad kid” you’ve been warned about. See that they are more than a label a previous teacher gave them. See their sense of humor, their gifts and think of how you can equip them to rewrite their narrative.

Choose to see the custodian who works 12 hour shifts with little appreciation or interaction. Invite them into your room to chat, even when you have things to do. Build a relationship and love on them.

Choose to see the parent that sent the angry email. It’s not you, it’s them. How can you see what they’re going through and provide a light, without letting them extinguish yours. (This was definitely hardest for me!)

Choose to see the new teacher in Room 6. Grab her coffee just because, invite her to observe a teaching strategy, offer to help her grade, or take her to lunch.

The bottom line is we can choose to focus on what is going wrong, on what we can’t control, on the chaos and unfairness. Or we can choose to see and love and serve. Maybe, just maybe in shifting focus from ourselves, our problems become smaller and the world becomes brighter.

So, as we enter this season of giving, of thinking of others, let’s accept this challenge. Rather than only giving gifts to your teacher besties and praise to the most outgoing students. What if you were intentional this season and chose to see those that need to be seen?

Once upon a time someone saw you…

and it was everything.