Last week I had the opportunity to watch a film called “Temple Grandin”, which tells the (true) story of an autistic woman born in 1947 who is now a Doctor of Animal Science and a professor at Colorado State University. It is a story about overcoming barriers and pre-conceived ideas. In this film, Grandin constantly visualises her obstacles as doors waiting to be opened; in fact, as she remembers the world solely through images, that is more than just an allegory for her. She keeps telling herself ‘it’s just another door’, every time she has to go through a metaphorical (or real) door.

Going through and unknown door is a metaphor that matches many others used to described the development in our ELT profession: the feeling of plunging head-first into the dark, cold water (or going into the rabbit hole, or taking the red pill… You know where I’m coming from). Doing something new in our area is not easy: staying in our comfort zone might be a lot less work, though it is not nearly as rewarding. In ABCI, Dave Allan showed a Calvin & Hobbes’ comic strip that showed exactly that. Calvin defined two types of teachers: those with 20 years’ experience and those with one year’s experience repeated twenty times. This drive to go into the unknown is what prevents us from repeating over and over what we’ve done before.

In the film, the fear Grandin showed when going through a new door is rather similar to what many of us, teachers, feel when we have to do something we are not used to. This feeling of oppressiveness, of not knowing what is on the other side of the door. But as I said earlier, going through with it despite our fears is wonderfully rewarding. I had a clear example of that here in Brasília, on August 13th: a group of teachers who, despite never having done a Pecha Kucha in their lives, were brave enough to do it in front of an audience (Shaun Dowling, Gustavo Barcellos, Fernanda Gomes, Erika Sun and specially Marcelo Elias, who supported the idea from the start: it IS a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? Congratulations to you all). It was a fun, rewarding, and exhilarating experience for those presenting and for those watching.

Renewing itself is a constant, cyclical effort, though. It is something we should strive for everyday, and it is something that goes beyond our professional life as ELT teachers. Life renews itself constantly, and so should we. This is the reason why as human beings we crave for challenges, though we many times do not admit it. New doors show themselves to us at every area of our lives, be it professional, personal, or any other.

For me, another door has just presented itself: I have just been invited to be the new Vice-president of the Regional Brasília Chapter of Braz-Tesol. Will I be able to go through with it? What challenges lie ahead? Will I do a good job? Well... Like Temple Grandin puts it, it’s just another door. Am I apprehensive? You bet. But if I take the Pecha Kucha event in Brasília as an example, whatever the metaphor I use, it’s just another challenge begging to be overcome.