Episode 16: The Permission Slip

Description: This week, Tina invites us into a gentle December reset with one of her favorite practices: the permission slip. Borrowed from Brené Brown, the permission slip is a simple but powerful way to meet this busy season with more ease, honesty, and compassion. This is your moment to pause, reset, and honor what you need during one of the toughest stretches of the school year.

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Transcription: Hi, welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I'm so happy you're here. I'm Dr. Tina Boogren. I am your host, and this is episode 16. And as we've been doing in a few episodes lately, especially right now as we're in the midst of what is a notoriously hard time of the school year, let's just start by taking a nice deep breath.

Boy, I hope that feels good. Maybe take it one step further and go ahead and relax your shoulders. Check in with your jaw. Just allow yourself to kind of, whew, let tension go. Maybe you kind of shake out your arms or shake out your legs. Do a good old neck roll. Ooh, and just allow yourself to bring your whole self to this episode. Think of this as a little mini reset in your day. 

Now, you might be driving, I listen to a lot of podcasts when I'm driving, so I need you to pay attention to the road. But if you are just listening, or maybe you are on a walk or you're on the treadmill just be fully here while you're listening. And I think that's a good reminder during this crazy time of year, these moments to kind of slow down matter.

And that brings us to the invitation for this week. I want you to consider giving yourself permission via a permission slip. Some of you know that this is kind of one of my little secret strategies that I use and have used for a long time. I actually got this idea from Brene Brown, and the idea is that every once in a while, especially during something big that I have going on or something I'm a little, ooh, kind of nervous or excited or a little bit scared. Something big or just something that makes me a little trepidatious. I like to stick a little permission slip in my pocket that helps me face that thing, whatever it is. And I love this for so many reasons, because number one, as educators, we do love permission slips. because you know, we're the ones that use permission slips often. And it's kind of like a little promise with yourself. 

And so we know that December we're in it, you are in the middle of December, and this month comes with a lot of pressure. There's holidays, there's holiday programs, there's grading, there's family expectations, there's emotional exhaustion. There could be the feeling of burnout creeping in. At the very least, there's most likely stress. And so what I want us to do, I was trying to think of something that would be so simple. I don't want to add anything else to your plate right now. And this came to mind, this idea of giving yourself a literal permission slip to take care of yourself right now.

So let me give you some ideas around what you might write down in or on your permission slip. So what if you write down, I give myself permission to do less. Or I give myself permission to choose ease. How about I give myself permission to not attend every event, or maybe it's not to attend every event for the entire time. How about I give myself permission to say no without guilt? I give myself permission to do less decorating around the holidays. I give myself permission to be quiet today. 

Think about- what are you craving in your life right now that you might find you kind of unlock via this permission slip idea? So maybe it's permission to be just exactly who you are today. Maybe it is permission to not fix everything for everyone else. Maybe it is permission to choose the easier version. Ooh, I love that. Maybe it is permission to rest while the rest of the world rushes. Maybe it is permission to receive. 

We- you- give so much and giving is great, but how about you give yourself permission to receive? Maybe you do that by saying, I give myself permission to not be the strong one today, to recognize that receiving isn't a weakness, it's about balance. What if you give yourself permission to feel the real feelings? Remember we've talked about Name It to Tame It. Can you identify how you're really feeling?

You know, the world might expect you to be feeling cheerful and merry in December, but quite honestly, you feel sad or maybe you feel lonely. And to recognize that that is normal. That is okay. That is called being human, and that is avoiding that anti-toxic positivity and just getting really real with ourselves. Maybe you feel exhausted and you give yourself permission to go to bed at, I don't know, six o'clock tonight or seven o'clock. Maybe you give yourself permission to protect your own peace, right? That goes back to boundaries. We said earlier, you know, saying no, maybe you think of it as protecting your own peace.

There's a gazillion different things that you can do and, and take this in whatever direction you want. So maybe it's, it's something fun. Like you give yourself permission to buy yourself the gift that you want this year. Maybe you give yourself permission to take yourself on a holiday date, or you give yourself permission to enjoy that holiday treat without guilt. Just think about what might feel really good, and I want you to literally write it down for me. I just put it on a little sticky note- I love a sticky note. I use sticky notes all the time, and I just stick that sticky note in my pocket so that when I reach into my pocket, I can pull that out and see it as a reminder.

Maybe you want to take a picture of the sticky note and it becomes a screensaver on your phone. Or maybe you take that sticky note. You don't put it in your pocket, you stick it to your computer or your car dashboard or your bathroom mirror. Somewhere that you see it and decide is it permission for today? Is it permission for this season? Is it permission for this week? Is it permission for this class period? You get to decide what that length is. 

There's no way to do this wrong, as always, I always say, make this your own. I love the thought of many of you kind of listening to this episode together and then sharing your ideas of how you might implement this. And as always, feel free to jump over to the Facebook group and where I post that this episode is ready to go. Maybe share your ideas underneath there and read each other's and really dig into that. So that's what I want you to think about this week. I want you to think about- what are you craving, what do you need? What would feel really good to just give yourself permission to either do. Or not do or feel or not feel. And I want you to literally write it down, and maybe it's more than one. Maybe it's just one thing. Maybe it changes every day. Again, make this work for you. But I really want you to think about what might you be able to give yourself permission to do or not do as a way to engage in the invitation this week.

As always, I'm cheering so hard for you. We are so incredibly grateful for Adrienne and Solution Tree and Marzano Resources, and for you this badass self-care squad. I'm so incredibly grateful for you/ Permission to recognize how incredible you are, what a difference you make, and that you are so deeply, deeply loved and admired. I am cheering so hard for you, especially right now. Feel my hand on your back as you move through the week. You've got this.  

If this episode resonated with you, find more mental wellness episodes here.