Change has not been something I have had to deal with much of my life. I was born and raised in the same home in a small town surrounded by loving family and childhood friends. I didn’t take a lot of risks and liked the safety and security of my life. I married my university sweetheart and we ended up settling and teaching in my hometown and we started our family there.

After over a decade of teaching, mostly in Kindergarten, I was feeling that I needed a change as I wasn’t getting the same joy out of teaching that I once had. One summer, while at my in-law’s cabin, I ended up reading “The Power” and I couldn’t stop thinking about the implications this could have on my life. I started pouring into personal development, reading as many books as I could, and writing in a gratitude journal regularly. For the first time in my life, I created a vision board.

I started to open my eyes to the possibilities of what life had to offer. I didn’t have to be stuck in my four walls with a capped salary thinking, “Is this it? Is this the rest of my life?” I wasn’t unhappy, but I definitely wasn’t feeling fulfilled.

The gears were in motion now, thanks to “The Power”, so when my husband got offered a new job in the nearby city, we jumped at the chance. I was no longer afraid of change and I now realized that I should welcome it and grow from it.

The relocation was difficult as I and my family faced a lot of challenges. My husband and I were both full-time Masters’s students. I was job-hunting, and eventually starting a new job. I actually had three different contracts with three different educational organizations so I was feeling spread thin. My hubby was away on a lot of business trips and later that year got transferred to a school six hours away. My children were starting in a French school and dealing with learning a new language and meeting new friends. My mom had just gone into remission and this year my dad got diagnosed with cancer. Oh right, and there was a pandemic happening!

Our marriage hit on all the top stressors that year; sickness in the family, job loss, financial issues, relocation, a long-distance relationship, and a pandemic. Needless to say, it was our lowest point in our marriage. I thank God that while all this was going on, I was pouring myself into gratitude. With this focus, my husband and I were able to come out of the year stronger than we were before.

During this time I bought “The Magic” and walked through the 28 days of gratitude. I’m not sure where my mind would’ve been and how I would’ve dealt with the chaotic year had I not had this book as a foundation to turn to.

While reading the final chapter, on the second to the last page, Rhonda Byrne wrote, “If gratitude became a mandatory subject in schools, we would see a generation of children who would advance our civilization through spectacular accomplishments and discoveries, obliterating disagreements, ending wars, and bringing peace to the world.” And I had my “aha” moment!

Why don’t we teach this in schools? She’s right. It needs to be in schools! And thus I set out on a year-long journey creating a vision for what I wanted to do in the education field. I did a lot of soul searching, took many courses, and read lots of books. I’m now creating a gratitude curriculum for elementary schools, and have written my first children’s book on gratitude, The Little Things: Finding Gratitude in Life’s Simple Moments.

I never dreamed that I could create a company based on a passion of mine, practicing gratitude. This would never have been on my radar a few years ago. I’m so grateful to have been introduced to all of these books, The Secret, The Power, Hero, and The Magic because they have changed my life. They gave me a fresh start in my marriage, my career, and my life. I have realized that my classroom isn’t four walls. My classroom is always evolving; it’s within me and it’s anything I make it.