Before the Coffee, After the Fridge: How Challenges Built Me

Before the Coffee!

The little challenges set me up for bigger success. Do your wall sits, push ups, squats before coffee and suddenly the day looks different. That same mindset carried me back into the classroom.

Short on teachers. Heavy caseloads. Carrying a team. Was it too much. Yes. Did I put my whole heart in. Absolutely. To a fault.

Year two of someone telling me to apply for a consulting teacher position knowing it was my goal. Year two of being put off. Meanwhile I was drowning in re-evaluations, extended school year paperwork, IEPs. Missing the fun times with my students.

I had a group of 4th graders reading on a 1st or 2nd grade level. No growth. The common thread was language impairment. Day after day I threw myself into strategies, repetition, gross motor movement with vocabulary, research based instruction. Nothing. Then one started to grow.

What changed. Not the curriculum. Not the delivery. Me. I stopped clinging to only what was “approved” and leaned into intuition. I worked with Gen Ed teachers and got inventive. I stopped fearing the noise of “you aren’t using blah blah blah.”

Fridge Moment That Rocked My World!

The last 4 months in the classroom were spent pouring myself into those kids, night after night searching for the thing that would help. One morning I walked in and the classroom fridge was broke. Right after I had spent 200 dollars of my own money on materials and manipulatives outside the box. That was my moment. I didn’t just see a broken fridge. I saw a vision. I saw myself out of that classroom. Not because I didn’t love my students. But because it was time. Time to step out and support teachers so they never felt as alone and exhausted as I did. The decision to halt buying a new fridge was made for me.

Every struggle taught me something. To trust myself. To realize I was worth sleep at night. To remember the autonomy behind specially designed instruction. That was the whole point of an IEP. And I had forgotten. Why. Because I was chasing the consulting teacher role. I wanted to prove I could follow every HQIM and district structure without question. What I know now. There is a time and place for all of it. But there is also good teaching.

So I put my name in the pool. The interview came. I was supposed to edit slides, fix mistakes, present. The directions were unclear. So I took the slides as they were. Wrong in some areas. Instead of tearing them down, I showed how we start with what we have and build it better. Human. Messy. Real. I thought I tanked it. They saw something else. I call it my used car salesman approach(I learned this approach while working in a dealership). Seeing the car of rubber bands but pointing out the potential of travel, freedom, modifying it.

Then the call came. Congratulations. The position was mine. And yet. Not everyone cheered.

I realized I had skipped over the chapter before this one. The years of school. The countless IEPs. The interventions. The parent meetings. The nights of prep. The leading. The reflecting. I never stopped to celebrate those wins.

The work got me here. But it was the challenges that built me. The fridge moment. The sleepless nights. The setbacks. The silence. All of it. They pushed me outside the box. And that is where we win.

Here’s what the last few years taught me... in a way you won’t forget:

1. Spread Yourself, Don’t Squish Yourself – Like mustard on a sandwich, cover the whole plate of life. Pour yourself into your work, your passions, your people… but don’t squeeze yourself so thin that you run out.

2. Embrace the Messy – The fridge broke. Slides were wrong. Kids struggled. Life is messy, and that’s where the magic happens. Be the chef who sees potential in the ingredients you have, not the ones you wish for.

3. Little Moves Lead to Big Wins – Wall sits, push-ups, extra effort in the classroom… it all adds up. Just like a tiny dab of mustard can transform a bland sandwich, small consistent actions build momentum.

4. Trust Yourself – You are your best tool. You’ve got intuition, grit, and creativity. Lean in. The world needs your flavor.

5. Celebrate Every Dab – Every late night, every small victory, every lesson learned, savor it like you savor the tang of mustard. That’s what builds your story, your strength, your MOBA mindset.

💛 Bottom line: Life, like a sandwich, isn’t about perfection. It’s about how much flavor you bring, how much heart you pour in, and how boldly you show up. Be spicy. Be bold. Be unapologetically YOU.

-Beth B. Blissful