Just Half An Hour

I have this habit of always looking for my next “hustle”. What can I do that I really enjoy and can earn some income from at the same time? Why I can’t be happy just doing something for the love of it, I don’t really know, but I do enjoy exploring additional ways I can add sources of income to my pocket.

So yesterday I was telling my sister about something that happened and I described someone as a bit of a curmudgeon. My little niece asked me what that word meant and my immediate response was “look it up in the dictionary”.

I actually used to get pretty miffed when I was a child and adults would always tell me to look words up in the dictionary when I asked them for definitions of words they used.

Now I see the value in that practice, so I am keeping the tradition alive.

I got a lot of pushback because she said it was easier to just ask Siri and get the definition… I bristled at the whole notion of asking Siri and immediately doubled down on her…

I explained that the dictionary is so much better because you can read the meaning of words around the word you’re looking for and learn new words along the way…

She still wasn’t buying in… But I persisted.

I Won…

I eventually got her and her brother to look up the words I asked them to and even more words because, we kept stumbling on more words in the definitions of other words that they needed to look up.

Fortunately, it turned into a fun time!

While our little “power struggle” was going on, my sister made an observation… She mentioned in passing that I was really good at making learning easy and fun, and doing it in a way that makes what is being taught stick.

“You should be a tutor…”

– My sister

Just like that.

Then it hit me… I do love to teach! I like teaching kids and I like teaching adults… I thoroughly enjoying sharing information and educating people especially about things that intrigue me.

In this instance it was words and language, but when I think about other things I like to teach, I realize that it really spans the gamut.

If I have information and I’m excited about it, I enjoy sharing it. From language and words with kids to drug information in the workplace. From coaching Spelling Bee champions (yes I have!), to…

So What Next?

I don’t yet know… But it felt good to come to this realization. Now I need to figure out what to do with this revelation.

In Other News…

This is trivial but I’m so thrilled that Abby Lee Miller is out of prison and back in her dance school teaching a fresh batch of students… Welcome back Dance Moms! 🙂