Today was a day of several firsts.

It was my daughter’s first day of pre-K. (She had a great day!)

It was my first time teaching Art class. That is, it was my first time teaching an elementary Art class in an elementary school to elementary students, all official like. (It was fun and mostly successful, but, I slightly underprepared for the kindergartners — lesson learned!)

The biggest “first” of all happened well before school today, though. It happened when I was getting dressed. And it is going to sound like a small thing…but I don’t think it is.

So, I have a couple of dresses that I love, underneath which I have always worn a full coverage tank top, because they have thick zippers at the back and the sensation of the zipper against my bare skin has always been extremely off-putting and even triggering for me. The feeling would remind me of how it feels to be touched when I don’t want it, so the sense of violation would always set me off, even if I knew it wasn’t actually someone touching me. An added layer of fabric usually helped offset that experience.

Today, I made the conscious decision not to put on a tank top before I pulled this dress on over my head.

At first, it felt quite uncomfortable. I gave myself a minute to acknowledge that feeling. Then I waited another minute…two…three. I found that it got more bearable, rather than less. After five minutes, I allowed myself a deep exhale, and decided that I was going to stick with this wardrobe choice for the day. I decided that I wanted to make this progress.

Was it perfectly fine all day? No. There were moments where it bothered me more so than not. But I was glad to try. I wanted progress over perfection today.

It’s in this way that I strive to set the right example for my daughter and all of my students. I don’t want any of them to be perfect. I want them to make progress. I want them to want to make progress. I want them to try.

Progress. It’s what’s for breakfast (at a very early time in the morning, never complete without some strong coffee!).