You Don’t Have To Say Everything You Know
Try it. You’ll instantly be smarter, calmer, cooler, and funnier.
I spent ten years as a high school teacher where my day mostly consisted of saying what I know. Saying it and writing it down on the board. Saying it and planning a fun activity to go with it. Saying it one way and then saying it a different way. Saying it and then asking everyone to repeat it back to me. Say it. Say it.
When I left the classroom everything changed. I didn’t feel responsible for making sure everyone around me knew the correct answer. At first, it was a little jarring. I no longer had a daily audience who would roll their eyes at my jokes but dutifully listen to my daily discourse about mitosis or evolution. In my new role as an administrator, I mainly sent emails and looked at spreadsheets. Mostly boring, but the peacefulness of it grew on me.
And now, three years later, I have learned the value of words not said. There is a lot of noise and chatter out there and some of it is good, but most of it is garbage. So as not to contribute to this cesspool of idiotic opinions and half-facts, I’ve made an effort to just keep my mouth shut a little more often. Nobody needs me to chime in and point out that really, the last summer Olympics were three years ago because of Covid or that traffic is probably backed up because of the construction at exit…
