Description: Let's ring in the new year and set ourselves up for success in 2022!
Resources:
1. Explore the Kids In Need Foundation's work now at EveryTeacherEveryDay.org/SelfCareForEducators
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 16 of season two of Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren. First of all, I want to wish you a very happy new year. Oh, you survived the holidays. That, that is worth a ribbon right there. I know the holidays are filled with so many just competing emotions and time and all of it. And, there's a lot of joy, but there's also ... Holidays are hard for a lot of us. So, first of all, congratulations, you made it and welcome to a brand new ... I know it's really just another date on the calendar, but for me, there's just something about starting fresh, that idea of a clean slate. That feels so good to me. Even when the world kind of feels the same. Oh, we just kind of get a fresh start, and I love fresh starts. So this week, the invitation. Is one that we've talked about before, but I just, I want to bring it back again and give you my little spin on it. And, that's kind of to choose your guiding word for 2022.
You can, you can make this maybe more than one word. It could be a phrase. It could be a quote. Maybe it's a song. Maybe it's like your guiding song. There's no right or wrong way to do this. Maybe it's an emotion. Maybe you, you really sit down and, and contemplate the question of how do I want to feel in 2022? And, that becomes kind of your guiding light. I just love having this kind of constant reminder of our north star again, that guiding light, that compass that, oh, just how we really want to set ourselves up for being our very best selves in this new year. There's lots of ways to remind yourself of your word.
I usually make a bracelet. I personally write my word down every single day in my journal that I do in the morning as part of my morning routine to keep it fresh in my mind. I have it on little sticky notes. I've seen people make little key chains. On your phone, like on your screen saver as kind of a reminder when you pick up your phone and again, there's no right or wrong way to choose your word. For me, I just kind of spend a little bit of time putting out into the universe that I'm looking for my word and usually something, either I read something or hear something, and I get kind of this full body visceral reaction. And, I think, That's my word. So, I'm going to share what I've chosen for this year to kind of get your, your juices flowing if you've not already done this. And, this is a great thing to do with students, with family ...
I just feel like there's a lot of ways that we can play with this. So, I'm going to, first of all, share my two words. I'm doing it a little differently this year. I've chosen to in the past, I've always chosen one. Last year my word was wellness or wellbeing. In the past, before that I've had transform. I've had breathe. I've had equanimity, and this year I'm choosing to, so my first word is delight. I just ... I, maybe you could hear me smile as I said it ... It's just such a happy word. In fact, the definition of delight is a high degree of gratification or pleasure. And, that's what I am looking for in 2022. This actually sparked for me because I came across Ross Gay's book, entitled The Book of Delights, which is basically his essays just recording daily instances of delight. Oh, my gosh, I love this so much. So as many of you know, I record my gratitude every day and that's been, oh my gosh, the long practice, long-held practice that I've had.
And, I'm just going to kind of switch my gratitude into delight. I just envisioned myself ... Thinking as I move throughout the world, like what is delightful in this day, in this moment, in this place that I am in? I've already started. So I'm, I'm keeping a written record, and it's delightful. When my husband brings me my coffee in the morning, it is delightful. When on walks, we know each other's dog's names, but not the human names. Maybe it'd be more delightful if we knew the human names as well, but I just think it's so delightful when we walked down the street and people say hi to Harry, and we say hi to Stanley and to Maggie our neighbor dogs--delightful.
So, that's just kind of a sampling as I think through my days, I'm just going to be on the lookout for I'm going to add a picture, as well if I can, I want to take a picture of what is delightful. I would love to use my One Second Every Day app to capture all the things that were delightful for me in 2022. And, that just feels refreshing and fun. And, I am convinced, I know that if I can find delight in every single day, even the really hard days, in fact, most importantly in the hard days that that will truly help get through this. So, I'm calling delight my word of the year for my mind.
And, my second word is for my body. This is, as I said, the first year that I've chosen two words. I really, really loved having wellness as my word for last year. It made a huge difference for me. And, you really upped my game in my whole interpretation of wellness, everything from my movement, moving every single day to increasing my sleep, to balancing my blood sugar. And so, I didn't want to lose that as I move into 2022, I have a lot of really strong habits that I want to keep. I actually want to increase some things in terms of fitness. And so, I was reading in a book. I just happened to run across the definition of vitality. Oh, I just love this. So vitality is the state of being strong and active, which is simple, but that is exactly who I want to be.
I've spent the last few years really working on this. And so, I definitely want to continue that. So, I'm going to hold on to both of these words. As I move into 2022--vitality and delight. I will find delight in my vitality, and maybe when I'm working on my vitality, that will be delightful. I'm trying to make those work together, but that's it.
So, that's what I'm working on. And, I say both of those words would fall under the umbrella of still continuing my mantra that I offered to all of you, which is living my best life every single day. And, I'm convinced that if I can find the delight and work on my own vitality, then that will help me to live my very best life, every single day. So, that's the invitation for this week. Spend some time either choosing your word, or maybe if you've already chosen your word, I want you to figure out how you're going to make that word come alive every single day? Are you going to order the bracelets? Are you going to order the key chain? Are you going to put it on your phone or you kind of put it as part of your morning routine? Are you going to write it in your calendar? You're just going to put sticky notes on your dashboard in your mirror to remind you?
Maybe this is something you want students or you want to do with family. I just want you to really be purposeful in thinking about finding your guiding word or quote or song or whatever it is. ... Multiple words like me, perhaps that will move you into 2022. I know it's January 3rd, but there's something kind of nice about just start now. It's okay if you missed a couple of days. Maybe that's your plan for this week. I was like to kind of ease into the new year and what I love ... Nothing brings me more delight than to hear everyone's kind of guiding words and phrases or what their plan is for how they want to feel or what they want to commit to as we move into this new year. So, please jump on over to the Facebook group and share there. If you're, if you're not part of the Facebook group, please join us. You can do an easy search for "self-care for educators". And, we're right there waiting to welcome you with open arms.
As always, a happy new year and a huge thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this job I get to do as we move into another school year. And to you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Oh, you bring me so much delight.