Another TEFL Change: Possibilities

Aside from my TEFL accent, one of the main changes I’ve noticed in myself – or in my outlook – is in the range of things I now see as within the realm of possibility.

There are so many things that are more or less ingrained in us that we “just can’t” do – and by “us” I mean people in general. From getting a job overseas on your own, to navigating a trip through a country where you can’t even read the script, to successfully managing a group of thirty children under the age of twelve…if you teach EFL abroad, you are likely to get into situations where you find you can do all of these things (or at least some of them!).

What I think now is this: with a surprising number of things, it’s not that the possibility isn’t there – it’s that we believe it’s not there and we are afraid of taking a risk, or we are so conditioned to follow the regular path that we don’t think to look to look for alternatives. It might be settling for a personal relationship that isn’t right or paying through the nose for something that you pretty well know you don’t need to pay for: once you realize there are alternatives, you can apply this to other facets of life for the better. I don’t think this necessarily makes things easier, but it does open up doors that you might not have even been aware of before.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that sometimes you just have to ask. Of course you will hear no a lot, and that can be hard. But you don’t need a hundred or a thousand “yes”’s. You need one. And if you don’t ask – or try – how can you get that one?