The Ripple Effect

Is it affect or effect? I feel like it could be both in this story. LOL. So…I went with effect. Am I wrong? If so, please don’t judge. My friend Kristin, who inspired this blog, is a Language Arts (English) teacher. Kristin: don’t be mad if I messed up the affect/effect words. I honestly never really ‘got’ which one to use when. Ha ha ha. :) I hope you enjoy my blog. Thank you for allowing me to share this! It truly is amazing how our actions ripple out in ways we may never fully see or understand.

Now, on to my/our story…

Have you ever thrown a stone into still waters and watched as the ripples traveled further and further away from it, until they disappeared? Have you ever wondered how far the ripples reach out? How far do they actually travel? Have you ever considered that these ripples exist in everyday life? Let’s consider for a moment that YOU are the stone, and every single move you make, every word you speak, every thought you have, and every action you take, creates ripples of energy that emanate from you. This energy travels away from you out into the Universe. Have you ever thought about that? With the work I do, I think of it often, but I don’t always get to see how the ripples of energy take action. Until now.

I recently bumped into a former teacher colleague of mine at my son’s school. Every year, our middle school hosts Grandparent’s Day. Eighth grade students are encouraged to invite their grandparents to the school for a day of fun and connection. My plan on that Friday was a simple one: drive both my son and my mom to the school to participate in Grandparents Day and pick them up when done. Or, so I thought.

We arrived at the school in the late morning. It was a beautiful, sunny spring day. I parked the car at the back entrance of the school and watched as my mom and son entered safely. As I proceeded to put the car into drive, the car froze. The car would not move. I could not put the car into drive. What the heck?! Uh oh. The car proceeded to beep a message at me. “No key fob located.” Oh boy. The car was trying to locate the digital key fob and the key fob was not with me. Then it dawned on me. The key fob was with my mom. She took it with her into the school. Shoot. Okay, no big deal. I’ll run into the school and grab it.

I walked away from the car and first tried to peek through the windows, thinking I could get their attention and not have to go in, but nope. They were nowhere to be seen. I had to go in to find her. As I entered the school, I was immediately flooded with the energy from all of the families. It was loud. The space was filled with chatter and laughter. Everyone was having a good time. As the energy from the space engulfed me, I began to feel the excitement and a little apprehension from the 8th graders. It’s really cool to see how the kids behave when their grandparents are around. Suddenly they are all so mature. Ha ha. It’s really cute to see. They are polite and respectful and kind.

I searched the crowd for my mom and saw her right in the middle of it all. I yelled, “Marlene-o, I need your keys.” I knew if I yelled ‘mom,’ 47 people would turn and look at me. So I went with her first name instead. My mom traversed through the crowd toward me. She handed me her key fob and I thought, great, I’m outta here. As I turned to leave the building, there she was, my former teacher colleague and friend, Kristin. I hadn’t seen her in a few years as she retired before I resigned in June of 2023. She looked amazing! She was glowing. There was a light all around her and I’m pretty sure I was the only one who could see it. I was immediately drawn to speak to her and find out how she was doing. I had heard she was teaching again at another local school, and by the huge smile on her face, I assumed she was loving it.

Kristin approached me with an excited smile and exclaimed with tremendous joy over the heads of the few people that were between us, “JONI CARLSON, you changed my life!” I was surprised to see her as it’s been a few years since we chatted, and I knew she had retired from teaching in Calumet. I was a bit puzzled as to why she was there. I moved closer to her and excitedly replied, “Hi, Kristin! How are you?” I must have had a bit of a stunned look on my face because I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. I changed her life? What? How? She obviously read my expression and immediately explained her statement. “YOU are the reason I’m now teaching at LL! If you hadn’t left Calumet, I would never have gotten my current job and I love it!” She went on, “I tell everyone I work with, I’m here because of Joni Carlson.” She laughed as she shared how none of her new colleagues at LL knew what the heck she meant when she told them that I changed her life. I mean, if you think about it logically, it didn’t make sense. It didn’t fit together. After all, we didn’t even teach the same subjects. I taught Health and Phys. Ed in Calumet, so how would ME leaving my job in Calumet have anything to do with her getting the Language Arts job in LL? This, my friends, is the ripple effect. Let me explain…

Kristin proceeded to tell me that my decision to leave teaching in June of 2023 created a series of events, a wave of changes (ripple effect) in 3 different schools and this opened up a job for her in LL. I had no idea. When I left my teaching position in Calumet, a teacher from another school in Houghton, took my job. Her vacancy in Houghton, was filled by a teacher from LL. The vacancy she had left in LL was then filled by Kristin! Kristen got the job in LL and she was loving it! She said she never dreamed about teaching again and never thought she’d be teaching ‘down the hill’ in LL. But it all worked out perfectly for her to get this job in LL. She thanked me over and over for creating this ripple effect which in turn, changed her life. She had such a joy around her, such a smile on her face when she shared this story. It was beautiful!

So, what did I do exactly? What was my role in all of this? What WAS the ripple effect? I chose me. I chose joy. I chose to follow my dream. I felt the nudge for three years to leave teaching. I listened. I trusted. I believed. I gave myself permission to follow my bliss and I jumped in (or maybe you could say I jumped out) headfirst into my new life. I was all in, or shall I say all out (of the school system).

My one-year anniversary of leaving teaching and being a full-time entrepreneur was in June. My business is thriving. I’m sooooo happy and look at what happened. I chose to follow my bliss and it changed my life and as far as I can see (the ripple effect right now) it changed the lives of 3 other women too. But, let’s take that a step further. If those 3 women are all happier, could you also say that their happiness has rippled out into their family’s happiness? Then, take it a step further. Could you say that their joy comes out when they teach? Could you say that their joy ripples out to their students? Then their students joy turns into something positive, and it ripples out into their family and friends, and then the bus driver, and the crossing guard, and the grocery store clerk, and their boss at work, and the customers in the store, and on and on and on. The ripple effect keeps going and going and going. We never truly know how far those ripples reach.

Never underestimate the power of following your dreams. You are one small puzzle piece in the Universe, but without you, the beautiful, amazing, complete picture would never come to fruition. YOUR energy, your joy, your thoughts, your actions all affect the people around you. We just never know how far out our ripples will reach. Please take that leap of faith. Choose you. Choose joy. You just never know how it will change your life, and the lives of those around you (near and far).

Choose you. Choose joy. Chose to follow your dream. Listen to that nudge. Trust. Believe. Give yourself permission. It IS possible. Go. Throw that stone and watch the ripple effect occur.

**This story was written with permission from Kristin. Here are our/her words:

ME: “Kristin: can I share your story and our encounter at the school?”

KRISTIN: “You most certainly may. I think it’s a remarkable story of how when people follow their dreams - in this case you, it opens doors for others, and you don’t even realize it. I never thought I would teach again and this chain reaction led me to relive a dream… when I retired I left that career totally behind as I was convinced something else would present itself. Then came…a few challenges, and then came the LL opportunity and I am loving teaching again so so much! It really is a gift. My new adventure turned out to be an old love. And I have told people it’s all because of you:). Love you:)”