Wow, what another busy week! We had Senior Tech days, lots of meetings and activities, and just all around a lot to do! I kicked off the next intramural sport this week as well, so on Wednesday night, I was basically a glorified babysitter for almost five hours while the students came in and played some volleyball.

I don’t dislike intramural nights. I know the students really look forward to them, and they are some of the more popular events that I put on. But oh man, those nights get long! I got to the gym around seven to get things set up, and the last game didn’t end until almost 11:30pm. Then I still had to sweep the floors and get everything put away at the same time, so it was quite late by the time I finally got to go home. And for the most part, the students are good and respectful, but there’s always a handful of them that you have to get after for being reckless or not being a good sport. So, I may pretty much just have to sit and watch volleyball for 4.5 hours, but I was still exhausted by the end of the night!

This week, it was getting close to 11pm, I was tired, and I had just made my 100th trip up the stairs to get volleyballs unstuck from the track above the courts. My patience was running thin, and I could name a dozen other places I would have rather have been in that moment. We had just finished the second to last round of games at this point, and the last round of the night was about to start. A couple of kids from one of the teams who had just finished playing came up to me and thanked me for putting this all together for them. They said they really appreciated that they had this to look forward to every week, and that even though it went pretty late, they were glad I was there to make sure everything went smoothly.

My mood immediately took a 180 shift, and I was feeling a lot better. Yes, it was a long night, and yes, I have four more weeks of this. But knowing they appreciate it and are having fun, made it all worth it. There are always going to be people that make your job hard, and parts of your job that you don’t like, but if you choose not focus on that, and only focus on the positive pieces, it makes it so much better!

Go out and tell people you appreciate what they do. Especially people like doctors and policemen who are getting a lot of hate for what’s going on in the world right now. Tell them that you appreciate what they are doing and know they are doing the best the can. Will it solve all their problems? No, not even close. But I guarantee it will make them feel better. It’ll remind them of why they are doing it in the first place, and to keep on going.

I want to say a quick thank you to my parents, who have been putting in even longer hours at the clinic since the pandemic started. They’ve been working their butts off, and have been yelled and sworn at almost daily, but they keep going to work every day knowing the same thing is going to happen again and again. Why? Because they love helping people. Even those who don’t appreciate it, my parents want nothing but the best for them. It takes a lot of mental strength and motivation to get yourself to keep going to work day after day when you know there’s a good chance of someone screaming and swearing at you for something that’s completely out of your control. But they didn’t become doctors for themselves, they did it for YOU! Just like all of our faithful public servants.

So get out there and tell people you appreciate what they do! When there’s a lot of crappy things going on in the world every day, make it a little better by showing your appreciation. I guarantee you’ll make someone’s day. 🙂

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger