Mindful Monday: Your Space Jam

Kid President made a Pep Talk 12 years ago and asked, "What if Michael Jordan quit when he didn't make the team? He would have never made Space Jam."  He goes on to ask, "What will be your Space Jam? What will you create to make the world more awesome?"

It's easy to wonder if you are making a big enough impact, wonder if you are making a difference at all some days, or wonder how you're making the world more awesome. However, here's the amazing thing. Your Space Jam is NOT just ONE event, ONE act of kindness, nor ONE decision. Instead, your Space Jam is your Entire Life. Your best work may not be shared with millions on a movie theater screen. Instead, your best work will happen in the daily interactions with the people right next to you. 

So next time you question your impact, keep showing up. Brad Montague said it best, "Make a masterpiece of a life so full of hope, and love, and joy that it lights up the whole world." 

Go live your Space Jam! 

 

Mindful Monday: The Invisible Workload

Not sure about you, but I got into teaching because, well, I love to teach. But somehow teaching seems like only a small portion of what we actually get to do on a daily basis. I know this isn’t news to you. And even though I've been at this for two decades, I still find the amount of metaphorical hats educators wear unbelievable. We don't have enough fingers or toes to count all the things that are asked of us, both spoken and unspoken.

Don't let the weight of 'all the hats' crush you. A teacher's to-do list is never ending. And just as soon as you feel like you've made a dent in it, more is added. However, don't let all you have to do take away from the meaningful work you do every day. Focus on one thing at a time, then the next thing. 

While I’m aware that addressing our students' social and emotional well-being can seem like 'one more thing' on your plate, I feel passionately that it is, in fact, 'the plate'. If our students don’t feel connected at school with their peers, if they don’t feel seen and valued by their teachers, if they don’t feel safe, then meaningful learning isn’t happening. As much as we wish we could solely focus on the content, the connection is just as important. At the end of the day, everyone, big or small, young or old, all want to be seen and valued.

I SEE you and THANK you for ALL you do for our students! Thank you for choosing to wear 'all the hats'. 

Mindful Monday: Joyful Rebellion

Joyful Rebellion. I absolutely love these two words! 

Brad Montague, author of Becoming Better Grownups, defines it as rebelling against what is to create what could be. 

What better place than creating what could be than a school. The future is quite literally in our classrooms, and the possibilities are endless. Let’s create what could be. Let’s create what should be. Let’s create a world a little kinder, and a little brighter. Let's create a world we all want to live in.

Here's to us all joyfully rebelling! 

Mindful Monday: Make Room for Joy

I recently read a statement ​that struck me. It said, “​Joy wasn’t something to be chased. Instead it’s something that we need to make room for in our lives.” 

Are you making room for joy in your life or are you letting life’s stresses and frustrations consume you?

It is absolutely easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of stress and negativity​. Between things that happen at work, at home, not to mention all ​we see on our social media feeds, ​it’s hard not to be consumed by it all. However​, we must make room for the joy. We must carve out time and space, both physically and emotionally, to see the bright spots and the good that’s ​all around us. 

Hear me when I say you are allowed to have bad days. You are allowed to let out frustrations. However, if we don’t make room for joy, the negativity will take us over.

Mindful Monday: You Are Worth It (part 2)

I am ​absolutely guilty of living a double life. ​And I am certain I'm not the only one. 

I am one person during the summer month​s​ and a completely different person during the school year. Why do I feel like it’s ​okay to ​put me and my family first when we have breaks​, but feel that I can’t continue to feed ​my needs and do what’s best for me and my family during the school year? 

​Our lives should not stop now that the school year has started back​. 

In order to make it through to May, in order to show up as the best version of​ ​ourselves, ​w​e have to continue to do what’s best for ​​us and our families. It may mean not working on the weekends​, making (and keeping) plans with family and friends, or making time for whatever it is that feeds your soul. I assure you​, if it leads to a better you, ​then, it’s definitely ​g​ood for our students.

I​'ll say it once more, because it's that important. Our lives should not stop now that the school year is in session. While a 50-50 balance is a myth, all or nothing is not sustainable.​ We must strive daily to make ourselves a priority. Because you deserve it, and you are absolutely worth it! 

Mindful Monday-ish: What's Left of Us (part 1)

How often have you found yourself saying something to the effect of, "I feel guilty that I​'m not grading papers tonight​." Or ​"I apologize. I​ have a family obligation. I can’t ​commit to __". ​Why do we make ourselves feel guilty or feel the need to apologize for doing something we should be doing ​more intentionally​? Stepping back. 

In education​, too often​, ​our families get what’s left of us and not always the best of us​.

We should be putting our​selves and our families first​. As the​ saying goes​,​ we are absolutely​ replaceable at work; however, we are not replaceable ​a​t home. Don’t apologize for doing what’s best for you​ and your famil​y.

D​on't feel guilty for not staying until 5:00. 

Don't apologize for not working all weekend. 

Don't feel bad for taking a day off. 

At the end of the day, happy teachers = happy students. 

Last week, after I shared my message inspired by Brad Montague, he shared a "Pep Talk for Grownups that Show Up." While it's a full 20 min video, I highly encourage you to watch at least the first 3 minutes. 

Mindful Monday: Tiny Nudges

Over the summer, I read Becoming Better Grownups: Rediscovering What Matters and Remembering How to Fly by Brad Montague. 

He speaks to the fact of wrestling with his own insignificance and wonders if he’s doing anything with his '​little' life to help shape a better tomorrow. He talks about feeling small and helpless in a world so big that what impact can he really have?

In his book, he recalls a conversation that he had with NASA astronaut, Ron Garan. Montague asked him, "Are we doomed?" Garan's response was this, "If an asteroid were heading straight for our planet, we have been conditioned to think, the obvious solution is to do something big. Blow the thing up. We’ve gotten in the habit of thinking that all challenges must be met with something forceful and grand." This thinking, he explained, is not true. "If an asteroid were hurtling toward us and it meant certain doom for people we love here on Earth, NASA’s solution would be to send a small aircraft. The small aircraft would get close enough to the object and just give it a slight nudge. Yes. It would just give a little nudge with nothing more than the force of a feather. This little nudge would completely shift the course of the object and save all human life on Earth." 

Montague goes on to say, “Now, not a day goes by that I don’t think about the tiny nudges. The little things that completely altered the trajectory of something seemingly impossible to move. The small, insignificant pushes that alter the course of my life and the lives of people around me. Though we might want to do big, grand things to make our mark on this universe, maybe the boldest, biggest thing we can do is propel a brighter future forward with little, tiny nudges.” 

So, as you start another school year, don’t doubt your impact. You don’t have to be teacher of the year. You don’t have to be teacher famous on the Gram or TikTok. You don't have to be the next Rita Pierson. And you don't have to be every student's favorite teacher. I assure you, you are nudging our students in genuine, intentional, meaningful ways each and every day. No matter how small of a gesture or kind act, YOU are altering the course of their future in the best possible ways you can't yet imagine. "To provide little loving nudges every day is to do something very big," states Montague. 

On a side note, I highly recommend Becoming Better Grownups or anything from Brad Montague for that matter. If you are interested in reading more from him, check out his site, The Enthusiast.