Description: This week, we're feeling extra grateful for this community and the ways you make the world around you so much better!
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 12 of season three of Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This week is Thanksgiving week, and really on this episode, I just wanna say thank you to you. I am so incredibly grateful for each and every one of you. I want you to picture me looking you in the eye, not awkward, but looking you in the eye, sitting across the table from one another, offering you my most sincere thank you. You know, the first line of my bio is that I'm a fierce advocate for educators, and I don't take that lightly. That is an honor that I carry with me, and I mean it so legitimately. You guys, I just ... I am in awe of the work that you do. I could go on and on and on for all the things that I want to thank you for.
I wanna thank you for showing up for students every single day. I wanna thank you for going to work when it feels impossible. I wanna thank you for getting up when it's dark and leaving school when it's dark and working hard to find those bumpers and boundaries and balance around the work that you do, your own families, your own time, your own friends, and want to thank you for continually trying to make it. I wanna thank you for not giving up. I wanna thank you for showing up on the hardest days. I wanna thank you for asking for help and helping each other and supporting one another and going that extra mile for students. And, for smiling and faking it till you make it, which just is so stinking hard sometimes.
I know the holidays are hard, and Thanksgiving is hard for a lot of people. For some people it's all sorts of awesome. And, for other people, this is a hard week for a number of reasons. And, if that's you, I want you to feel our hands on you supporting you this week as you make your way through it, whether that's the whole week, whether being with family or without family on Thanksgiving is hard. I just want you to know that we see you, and it is hard, and I want you to be real gentle with yourself. And, if you are someone that thinks Thanksgiving is awesome, I want you to be really, really grateful for that, and I want you to, I want all of us, no matter where you are, if this is a great week for you, if this is a hard week for you, if this is an awful week for you, no matter where you fall on that spectrum, I'm gonna invite you this week to find some quiet time for yourself. I wanna just stop there, just find some quiet time for yourself, but I'm gonna add a little bit more. Find some quiet time for yourself, and I really want you to think about the little, tiny, teeny, tiny, little things that you're grateful for. Those small moments that maybe we miss.
And, I know gratitude works really well for a lot of people. It works really well for me, and I know it's a, it's a tough thing for others. And again, different strategies work for different people. There's a lot of research that supports it, and my own gut just says if we allow ourselves to be still, and to be quiet and to just pause and think about what are those small things. Maybe big things too, but I'm a big fan of the small things that we're grateful for those kind of moments throughout the day that are easy to miss those small gestures. Maybe it's even just things. It's okay to be grateful for things. You guys, I'm so stinking grateful for good writing utensils. That was in my gratitude list today. Someone handed me a pencil. I love pencils. Some of you know this. I'm a big ... I love pens too. I'm a big fan of pencils. And, someone handed me a pencil and it was just a really good pencil and they, my joy over the pencil, they said, Keep it. And, it was such a great thing and I'm grateful for that. And, it went in my journal.
Many of you know that part of my morning routine is that I write down five unique things that I was grateful for within the last 24 hours. That forces me to get a really narrow focus, and it allows me to kind of regroup, oh, find my footing again and move into the day with a little bit of a boost. And so, I'm gonna encourage you, we talk about gratitude a lot on this podcast, and I talk about a lot in workshops, but I think it was essential that we brought back gratitude back for this Thanksgiving week, and I want you to just sink into that. I want you to include on your gratitude list you, I want you to think about all the things that you're grateful for, that you bring to the table. Don't blow this off. I want you to really think about what are you, what are you really grateful for? I don't even wanna give you ideas, because sometimes we get stuck with just those examples. I wanna leave it open so you can kind of dig into that, and as you are playing with gratitude, and maybe maybe you're sharing with someone else, or maybe it's just for you.
I just really want you to know how grateful I am for you that when I say I'm cheering so hard for you, I mean hard. You guys. I am cheering so hard for you. I just want you to be happy. I want you to be healthy. I want you to be well. And, there's a lot of layers of what that looks like and feels like. There's not a narrow definition of any of those three words. I want you to honor who you are, what you bring, all the gifts that you bring to your students, to your staff, to your school, to your friends, to your family, and to yourself, and to me. I'm in awe every time I get to meet you, every time I get to work with you, every time I receive an email or a note ... I just ... My heart swells up, because I just think you're amazing, and if I get to talk to you or work with you, it's like ... It's like rock star status. It just is such an incredible gift to be able to work so closely with so many educators. I don't take that responsibility lightly. And, when I say that I'm cheering you on, and that I'm here to help, and that I want to help, and that I believe in you, please know I mean that I am so grateful for you. And, as I move into this Thanksgiving week and take a little time away with my husband and we reflect on things we're grateful for, you're gonna be right at the top of my list.
As always, a huge thank you. Thank you. Gratitude. Thank you to Brooke who makes this happen. She does all the magic behind the scenes to get this to you. Thank you. Gratitude to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources--companies that I believe in and that believe in me, and I'm so grateful that I get to do this work. And, to you, as always, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. I'm always grateful for you, but this week I'm even more grateful for you. You are amazing. Sink into the week, take some time, get quiet with your own thoughts, find the gratitude and the littlest things, and put yourself on the list as well, because you are on my list for sure. Thank you.