Trade In

As a school bus driver I manage over 65 high energy youth/children on a daily basis. The job requires a almost contradicting amount of both sternness and flexibility when working with adolescents. At the end of the day, the heightened amount of focus needed to navigate a 78 passenger vehicle through the curving mountain roads and rush hour traffic results in stress head aches and a clanking back. The constant frustration of sounding like a cawing crow to the teenage ear leaves many drivers frustrated and in a chronically irritable mood. If all that was not enough, in many cases most school districts only halfheartedly support their drivers; more often than not the driver pays for the repercussion of the child's poor choices.

As drivers we really have two choices in dealing with this heart-ache; we can stink or we can sweeten. The same principle is true in life. Many occupations leave the U.S. workforce mentally and physically extorted after clocking out. The aim of every Monday is to get to Friday; the aim of every weekend is to go on vacation, and as your vacation comes to a close, the goal of the trip is to get home and start again. The hamster wheel of constant labor leaves employees zapped and empty like a heavily used pair of AA batteries. So why do so many choose to stink when the alternative is so much sweeter?

When asked honestly, just as everyone has things they dislike, all people they have things they love. As a bus driver I can choose to hate the traffic or love the students. What would life look like if we stopped trying to push our way forward but rather enjoy the moment we're in choosing positive lenses or negative ones? The comical part is so many get fixated on negative situations that they undermine any solution. I admit I'm just as guilty as anyone else at this. It takes initial less effort to shout at a student to be quiet but the results are fleeting and temporary. Teens are just like a garden, what you plant is what you get. By yelling you are psychologically implanting the very patterns of disrespect you're trying to extinguish. A better approach would be to treat the teens with the amount of respect you want them to show you. Also remember they're still developing so they won't get it right away but t like a garden with consistent watering and patience they will eventually produce the lasti I results desired.