Dooley Noted: 10/12/2014
Most of my readers are adults.
If you know an antsy, energetic kid, please encourage that child to read this.
Dear Energetic Child –
My name is Kathy, and I often got in trouble in my early years of school.
I had a hard time sitting still. I would get bored in class, too.
I would get detention often, and my doctors offered to give me drugs to keep me calm.
I said no, and so did my mom.
Here is the result.
I took some extra classes and learned how to channel my energy into things I loved, like organizing my thoughts, writing, sports, dancing and singing.
I ended up getting really good grades, since I learned to focus my energy.
My energy sometimes made me anxious. So, I had to learn to breathe and move at a pace that worked for me. Being still and quiet didn’t work.
In college and professional level courses, I often created charts as I was listening because no professor could move fast enough for my freight train of a mind.
You don’t need medication as much as you need things to move as fast as your mind moves.
But they might not move that way.
And people may get frustrated with you. You may get frustrated, too.
But nothing is wrong with you.
You don’t have to be still. But you do have to funnel that restlessness into a missile of constructive energy.
I learned to do this, and it was rocket fuel for a career I love.
Today, I own three businesses. I also teach for 6 doctorate level schools. I’m even a doctor myself!
My students always give me the same feedback: they feel enthused by my enthusiasm. It’s contagious. Now, I actually help others pay attention in class!
If I’d been medicated or been still as I was encouraged, I may have been different. I may not have been able to help and inspire 2000+ students per year. I’ll never know, because I went a different route.
Take that energy you have and crush the walls that hinder you.
Do what people have never done.
People will ask you every day, “How do you do it?”
You’ll let them know you were true to yourself, and you never had a problem in the first place.
You were born to live, learn, move, and inspire – at your own pace.
Let no one tell you otherwise. Come find me if you need a reminder.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley