Evolving Sloth

I used to be kind of quiet.  No, I wasn't quiet with my best friends or family.  I'm told I never shut up.  I'm sure this is hard for many of you to believe.

Maybe quiet isn't the word.  I didn't use to be so opinionated.  And if I was, I was pretty quiet about it.  There were only a few subjects that would get me riled up enough to talk about them, especially in front of strangers or to people I wasn't super-comfortable with.  I hated, HATED confrontation (ok, I really, kinda still do). But then I had kids.  I got a little louder, but still kinda kept to myself.  Then I got divorced and started writing and all hell broke loose.

I started doing my "opinion-voicing" through writing.  Sometimes private (most of which has been burned because my kids never, ever needed to see that) - sometimes semi-public (blogs, message boards, etc.)  - and lately, I find myself speaking up about things that 5 years ago, I never would have voiced my opinion on. Most of the time it's nothing major, but that's why it strikes me as so weird - because in the past, I would only speak up if it was something major.

Last night, in the dance lobby, one of the parents said something along the lines of they were shocked that I'd become so vocal. lol (She didn't quite put it like that and she wasn't being rude or anything. ;-) ) I got to thinking about it and I realized that for years, I rarely even talked to anyone while we were there.  It does kind of seem like all of the sudden, I"m some unstoppable blabbering force. They should probably take it as a compliment, though. I don't talk around people I'm not comfortable with (or that I truly don't like).  I keep my head buried in my phone during Fia's class time.  I've got to put in years with them before I can talk. They have to pass my rigorous weirdo screenings first.

There are a few things that tend to set me off no matter who is in the room:

 Disrespectful children is one of those things- especially when their parents just sit there and watch. There's a (class) family  - well, let's just say, I think the mom is zoned out on xanax because there's no way her children should be acting the way they do at their ages - and I've snapped at them more than once. (Owners were busy teaching -and I'm not going to allow some kids to tear up the studio, steal money, get into the other kids' bags, etc. just because it may not "be my place.")

Bullying:  I just read a story about a girl from Sydney's school was was severely abused, both emotionally and physically by some "friends" this weekend. I don't even really know the girl and I'm ready to stand behind her mother with my mama bear face ready.

Ok, there are a few other things, but I'm trying not to let this prednisone take over my life and make me completely grumpy. (I am losing that battle, by the way.)
 
When I was evaluated on the very first teaching job I ever had, the only "mark down" I remember getting was that I needed to be more assertive.  What's funny is that since then, I've worked really hard on that.  Now, some people probably think I need to be less so, but you can't please everyone, right? ;-)