The Important Things In Life

Recently I have been worrying a lot about signing up for classes and making sure I can graduate from college in four years and I've found that I spend so much time worrying that other things get pushed aside and I become even more stressed out about falling being on my homework and other things. I read this story (posted below) and it made me feel better and I realized I need to stop worrying so much and everything will work out in the end.

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Podcasts

My EDT400 class is technology in education and we have learned a couple different tools that would be useful in a classroom. We have learned about wikis, podcasts, google documents, and google groups among a few other things. Over spring break my younger brother was working on homework and I decided to bug him and find out what he was doing. For his skills class everyone had to make a podcast about shark attacks and how to survive them. I thought it was pretty cool that he learned how to make a podcast and that everyone shared their podcasts in the class. His was pretty cool because he added music from the movie inception (dream is collapsing) to the background of it so there was a grand finale at the end that fit perfect with his podcast.