It’s go time. You can sense it. You can smell it.

The doors to your classrooms and offices are open for another school year.

And you stand at the threshold.

True, you are a full year older and wiser. True too, you are as prepared as you can be. Yet experience of school journeys past causes you to simultaneously be excited and wary of the knowns and potential unknowns awaiting.  

There is a Swedish word for this feeling

Resfeber (RACE-fay-ber).

The restless beat of a traveler’s heart as the new journey begins.

And so it is. Every August (give or take a few weeks). We become travelers once again.

The restless heartbeat. Can you hear it? Can you feel it?

The beat of anticipation, and new challenges. The beat of anxiety, and the stirring beat of riding into another exciting school year balanced by a deep awareness the journey isn’t always easy and often comes at us with twists and turns.

You silently appreciate the very nature of our profession giving us this gift of clear beginnings and endings. A chance to become a better version of ourselves once again.

With your renewed energy you enjoy the buzz in the room as you gather together, greet veteran and new colleagues, renew friendships, and discover life-defining changes.

You notice wedding rings. New babies and new faces,

Quiet, and perhaps unspoken, grief. Empty chairs of colleagues past.

Loud laughter.

You sense one of the understood gifts of a new school year: A fresh start. You know the new journey has a destination late next spring. And, this school year you quietly promise to enjoy the journey as much as possible.  

You know too the benefit of being alongside colleagues who will challenge you, encourage you, lift you up when you’re weary, and remind you this work, this years’ journey matters. The road ahead may be uncertain, but it was never meant to be traveled by ourselves.

Sadly, I’ve had colleagues who never knew their previous school year would be their last. That thought reminds me that beginning another journey again is never something I should take for granted.

This school year, like every school year start, I promise to listen for my heartbeat more carefully. What about you?

The restless beat of your traveler’s heart?

And, thanks to the people who will teach, lead, collaborate, and walk beside you, you won’t travel this school years’ journey alone.

I’ll be here on the front porch whenever you need to stop by along the way. I have a circular tattoo on my left arm to prove it. It simply says “Resfeber”. A soft reminder to enjoy the journey.

Let the new school year begin, once again.

Tim Kanold

My Front Porch PLC Question:

As this new school year begins, what are you carrying into this next year-long journey that you hope to nurture…or perhaps leave behind?

I would love to hear your thoughts about your PLC Heart, Soul, and Joy front porch! Send a note about this essay or any of the others and join the conversation.

Leave a comment below!