This week's guest post is brought to you by Jacob Chastain, author of new release Teach Me, Teacher. You don't want to miss this post! It is likely what you need to prep for the new school year.

Guest Post by Jacob Chastain

As the next school year begins to creep over the horizon, students and educators everywhere are dreaming about the future.

Students are dreaming about seeing their friends again, what teachers they might get, and how it will feel to make the team.

Educators are dreaming about the lesson ideas they have, the new structures they’ll put into place, and the new goals they have set for themselves.

Dreams can be hopeful things, bottles washing up on the shore of possibility and chance, but dreams can also be fearful things. They can override our hope with worry and insecurity.

Students are dreaming about being friendless, dreading showing up to class, and feeling rejection.

Educators are dreaming about how they’ll be seen as “not good enough,” failing to meet the needs of their students, and feeling incompetent.

In both cases, and for both students and educators, these are moments to live for.

We should hope that students come to us with bright eyes and excitement, and we should meet that excitement with all the energy that we can conjure up. We should hope that students have friends to see, that they think about teachers in a positive light, and that they have goals to make the team or join a group they care about.

We should hope that the other educators in the building and we have a fire burning with ideas inside of their minds and that they feel inspired to take those ideas and bring them into the physical world. We should hope that educators have goals to get better, to try something new, to push the boundaries of what it means to be a teacher, and how they will accomplish the task of allowing learning to happen in their classrooms.

These moments feed life into us and nourish us. These are also the easy moments. These are the dreams that come to us because we call to them.

The other dreams, the fear-induced anxiety trips that roll like waves over students and educators alike, these are harder to accept. We push them away, ignore them, and pray they never come back.

We should face these dreams. We should scream against them. Confront them. We should stand strong and accept them as they come because these are the dreams that give our lives cause and purpose. Without these dark dreams and moments, we would never feel the passion of what we do as strongly as it needs to be felt.

When a child shows up with fear in their soul, it is heartbreaking, but it means that we are needed in that child’s life. It means it’s time to step up and be there for that child. When a child must experience rejection, it means that our cause is greater than standards or test scores. It means we have to realize we teach human beings, not curriculum. When a child feels less than because of how we treated them, it means that we aren’t finished becoming the educators WE CAN BE. It hurts to see that we’ve caused pain, but it’s in feeling that pain we grow to become better.

When an educator shows up unsure about their skills or practices, it means they are trying and are worthy of the title “lead learner” in the classroom. When an educator feels like they can’t or didn’t meet the needs of one student or thirty, it means they are striving and trying and pushing. When an educator feels incompetent, it means they feel the weight of the job, and this will keep them going.

All of these moments give us something to live for, the good and the bad. We do not get stronger without feeling the pain of growth, we do not evolve without first living hard enough to see that it is necessary, and we do not strive without first knowing the beauty that life can be.

The moments to live for aren’t the ones that only bring you joy, they are the ones that bring you growth. They are the moments that meet you where you are and ask that you become more of you.

The best moments, good and bad, are the ones that force us to actualize our purpose on this Earth.

Thank you, Jacob!​

Wowzers! Love this post, Jacob! So pure. So honest. So real.

If you like what you've read, please follow Jacob on Twitter @jacobchastain_ and visit his website and podcast teachmeteacherpodcast.com.

Don't forget to click the link below and learn more about Teach Me, Teacher. You can even read the first few chapters for FREE! *Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the word PREVIEW.