Expressing appreciation

While everyone was enjoying sakura in Japan / Korea, I just had the toughest and most draining week. I was simply pushing through the PSG event (because I have a ton of work waiting for me to finish urgently by Sunday) when a parent surprised me with lovely bouquet. She said thank you for helping her son even though I was pretty sure I didn’t do much.

If that was not sweet enough, she brought 3 other bouquets of flowers asking me to pass it on to the team. Prior to this, I simply updated her about her son’s progress and she was thanking me profusely.

I think I did my ultimate best at work this week but of course I still could not please everyone. I was feeling discouraged and drowning in so much work, it made me feel exhausted all the time. During the LJ mid week, I was wondering if I could continue being here and still make a difference. People don’t seem to be appreciative or thankful anymore. I didn’t think feeling down was good for me or for the kids under my care. Last week, I was helping a boy with asd sort out his worries and sources of stress but frankly, I was feeling extremely stressed out myself.

I do worry if I can ever be a good wife or a good mother in the future, if I choose to remain in this job. The workload and responsibilities are heavy and sometimes it takes my personal time away. Thus, the exhaustion is real and it is on a daily basis. Yes, I worry about this every day.

However, this timely appreciative gesture just reminded me that even though I am not the best or perfect, someone’s life was touched by me and for now, that is all I needed to keep going, for now.

Sometimes people have no idea how hard we work and this hard work may not necessarily equates to appreciation or a success story. But we still do it anyway, despite not being fully well this week, simply because it is, and has always been a passion. 📷 by Shikin.

Special thank you to my partner Soh Kwan who is almost in the same battles as me. This week has been crazy tough so a little appreciation goes a long way, really. It does not have to be a gift, it can be a word of thanks or a simple ‘how are you?’ or a pat on the back. People often underestimate the impact of such gestures. It is sad. When you appreciate or cherish someone, you have to tell them. How else would they know?

May we continue to do all things for His sake inshaAllah.

To prevent others at work from feeling the same, I decided to run a friendly ‘competition’ among the teachers. Titled ‘Touched by Autism’, I wanted to hear a touching or a positive experience they have ever encountered with a child with autism. It only needed to be a paragraph long and it can be about anyone, including those who graduated.

Unfortunately, it is a crazy busy period now for the teachers, and we received only 3 entries. However, reading what they wrote was enough to make us feel heard and appreciated. I decided to reward all three of them.

A yummy bottle of potato chips and a simple thank you card. Personalised a little by me and it was enough to bring bigger smiles to their faces. Caring and teaching special kids is never an easy task, it is a huge responsibility. I realized that I cannot keep giving the teachers strategies, I needed to empower them, recognize them and reward them for their good efforts as well. This, I think is, positive reinforcement at its best!

Thank you Jimmy, Rena and Angela! I was feeling so exhausted this week but doing this for them energized me and empowered me too. I can’t emphasize how important it is to say thanks, and show appreciation to others. It helps to create a good relationship with everyone.

Thank you for your appreciation. This, in return, inspired me to keep on appreciating others too.