I love pencils. Freshly sharpened, classic #2 pencils.
I love the smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil. I love the way a sharp pencil feels on a thick, new notebook. I love the way you can erase away anything you don’t like with a pencil. I love the way pencils will smudge my fingers. I love the eraser dust that fills the page.
Fresh pencils also bring with them all of the feelings of back-to-school.
As a kid, I always loved back-to-school time. For all of the above-mentioned back-to-school supplies and back-to-school outfits (I still remember with love a pair of pin-striped blue jeans from elementary school), and also for all the possibilities that lie ahead. A whole school year, at the ready. New classes, new teachers, perhaps a new hallway or a new locker. New friends? Maybe.
Possibilities. What would I be? What would I do? What would happen?
For me, back-to-school time exemplifies the chance to begin again, even more than the ringing in of a new year.
As kids, we are given a literal reset button each August or September when we collect all those fresh pencils, papers, and pin-striped blue jeans and climb back on that bus. As adults, though, we have to remember that we can do that too – re-set our own reset buttons, start anew.
So, it’s fresh start time. Why not get a gloriously freshly sharpened pencil and a new notebook and think about what possibilities the fresh start just might usher in for you.
What are the possibilities that lie ahead?
For breakfast today I had coffee and some fluoride from the dentist.
Author Profile: @erikap
Throughout the month of August, watch for a series of ‘back to school blogs’. We hope you are inspired and find great tips for yourself and your staff. This blog was originally posted on the Leadership Programs website https://tlpnyc.com/pencils-and-possibilities/.