Description: This week's invitation was inspired by a Denverite who really knows how to make someone's day. Now Dr. Boogren is passing it on!
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 23 of season three of Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This week's invitation is a feel good invitation. Here's what I want you to do every single day this week. I want you to give one sincere compliment to a stranger. Now, of course, you can break the rules and give compliments to other people that you know and love. Of course, you can give more than one, of course, of course, of course, to all of that. But we're gonna ... We're gonna go for the low hanging fruit here. What's the teeny, tiny, little thing we can do? And, what I want that to be is I want you to give a sincere compliment to a stranger one time a day, every single day this week.
Here's how this came up. I was at the airport today. I know that's surprising. . And, my flight got delayed, which I decided to, you know, turn, lemons into lemonade. And, it gave me a little more time to go actually have a sit-down breakfast. So, I went to Snooze, which is one of my favorite restaurants out at our airport, Denver International Airport. And, I was sitting up at the counter and the, my server just gave me compliment after compliment, and it felt sincere. It didn't feel forced, and it made my entire day. I left that restaurant with a little extra bounce in my step, and I thought, gosh, isn't that amazing? What one tiny, little compliment ... Actually it was a couple, but small, little compliment. He liked my hat, and he liked my sweater. And, what else did he like? I think he even liked my shoes. He kinda looked at my whole outfit, and did a little rundown and it put a little, it put a little bounce in my step, and I thought, my goodness, what a tiny, little thing that felt like such a gift that I could absolutely pay forward.
You know, in my book, 180 Days of Self-Care for Busy Educators, one of the weeks, one of the invitations is to notice every time someone does something nice for you, and then turn around and do that thing for someone else. And, that's what today felt like. Someone gave me a nice compliment and then I made sure that I offered up a couple compliments to strangers that were absolutely true, and it just felt so good. It's just a reminder of how good that feels. We know altruism, doing something nice for someone else, is actually a gift to ourselves. Yes, it makes someone else feel better. Like his compliments to me made me feel better, but I thought ... But, he felt pretty good giving the compliment, kind of like when I paid that forward later on in the day. I'm sure I made someone else's day, and I felt so good to give those compliments and have that human connection. It's just such a small, tiny, little thing that can just make such a huge difference.
I think this is a really important thing to do, especially on days that we're not feeling so great. When we're tired, when our flight is delayed, when the piles are adding up and the work seems to be never ending, and we just can't quite get caught up. And, we just feel like some pretty strong negative emotions. One of the fastest ways for us to try to sort of start climbing out of that hole is to do something nice for someone else. We know this, but I want us to get super specific this week, and I want you to, again, here's the invitation. I want you to at least, but let's just ... Let's just say one time. If you do it more than once, great. But, you don't even have to aim for more than once. Just once every single day this week I want you to offer up a sincere compliment to a stranger, and see what kind of boost this gives you as you move throughout your day and your week. Be a cool thing to do with students, as well. Or, maybe a challenge that you offer up to your PLC members or department members or your family members, or maybe you just do it on your own as your own kind of little secret action research.
I can ... I feel it's like I can already feel the goodness going out into the world. I'm of course going to do this alongside you, and it's something I'm really looking forward to and really need to remember to do this every single day. Why isn't this just something that I just do every single day? It's like you do it for a ... Like most things, we do it for a while and then kind of forget about it, but let's bring it back and make conscious effort to spread some, spread some love out there. That's it. It's gonna, it's gonna be a good week. I can feel it.
As always, a huge thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you to Marano Resources and Solution Tree for this job I get to do. And, for you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. I wanna give you compliment after compliment, after compliment, after compliment. You are the best. You are the absolute best. I am cheering so stinking hard for you. It is such an honor to do this work, to support you and hold you up and advocate for you and cheer you on. It's gonna be a great week you guys.