Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to Live Inspired with John Allerie Monday Morning

Moments.

We record these so you and I can begin our days in awe and on fire with a burst of inspiration. Let's get after it this

Monday morning. Here we go. For many of us, the start of school ushers in a welcome shift from summer.

It means reunion with friends, the return of routine, and the familiar sights, sounds, and yes,

smells of the school building.

We may miss the freedom of summer. That is true. But it certainly is a joy to be surrounded by

others and in places where we feel welcomed, where we're encouraged to learn, and where we

fit in with others. For many of us, it's a wonderful transition.

For many.

But not for all.

Some children, some families and some teachers are navigating a whole different range of emotions.

Back to school for some brings back feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, fear, loneliness, and dread.

These are arduous emotions many of us remember experiencing.

I wrote about struggling with these feelings in the book In Aw,

and those memories briefly return each time I send my own children back to school

and out the door this time of year. You see, 35 years ago, I left school on a Friday afternoon in

January, January 16th. I put a date stamp on it. And I left as an athletic, a popular, a mischievous,

just ask my teachers, fourth grade little boy.

Fifteen months later, I returned to school on a March morning as a fifth grader radically different.

After being burned, I was seated in a wheelchair without my fingers, scarred over my entire body, scared about how others would

perceive me and unsure of what school would be like for me. Would I still have friends? Would

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