Description: Dr. Boogren is working on a small initiative that has allowed more freedom to make the best choices. In what ways can the power of the pause influence you?
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This is episode 26 of our fourth season. And, this week's invitation is to play around with the power of the pause, the power of the pause. In other words, this is a nudge for us to slow down. And, before we make a quick decision, let's give ourselves the gift of pausing. So, consider what this, how this could play itself out, right? So, you're at work and someone asks if you can help volunteer to do something, to sit on a committee or something, and rather than having a quick response, which for many of us is, Yes, I'd love to do that, right? The people pleasers and us come out oftentimes.
What if we allow ourselves to pause? We could even say, Oh my gosh, I love, love, love, love that you thought of me for that. Give me just a second to think on that. Right? And, you can even employ some of the strategies we've talked about before in previous episodes of really giving ourselves 24 hours to take an extended pause. For this week's invitation though, it's even ... It could be an extended pause, but it's even as simple as just the, in the moment, right? Before you respond and have that quick, quick, quick, quick reaction, allow yourself to just pause for a second and check in and if it feels like a big, huge Yes, say yes, and if it feels like I don't think I can make that work, the pause will allow you to have a different response than in your quick reaction.
I think the pause is also just powerful for our own selves to kind of hit the brakes. day. Many of us are just going a thousand miles per hour at all times. And, the power of the pause is a little gift that we give ourselves. So, I'll give you an example. So, today, as I record this, is a travel day for me, which means I got up pretty early to get a workout in before I left for the airport. And, I had one of those disastrous days at the airport. The security line took too long. I was just, you know, death by a thousand paper cuts. And, I had written on my wrist ... As many of you know, that's a little trick I like to employ. Pause, because this is what I'm working on as well this week. And so, I found myself at numerous points feeling really frustrated.
You know, last week in episode 25, we talked about name it to tame it. And, I was able to recognize I am frustrated. I am irritated. I am angry. This system isn't working. Blah, blah, blah. And then, I put the pause in place. And, allowed myself to just kind of catch my breath, slow down. I actually physically stopped for just a second before continuing on. And, what a difference it made. I even forced myself to take a little pause when I got off the plane at the airport to just slow myself down. I tend to do things very quickly. I walk very quickly. I have a need to go get my rental car really fast, and check into my hotel really fast, and I don't know, get everything done at like lightning speed. I don't, I don't quite know why. And, today the power was in reminding myself there's no fire. I don't need to do it quite so quickly that there's a real, calmness that comes when I allow myself to just slow down.
Even at one point it was like, Okay. What, what would I need to do to move as slowly as possible?
As I possibly can, which is like the opposite for me. 'Cause I'm always moving as quickly as possible. And, that in itself was a pause. I also, once I checked into my hotel room, I slowed myself down while I was unpacking and doing all the things I need to do. And then, I actually sat down and did a five minute meditation. And for me, this is huge, because some of you know, I have a love hate relationship with meditation and mindfulness. Sometimes it works really well for me. Sometimes it doesn't. Drives me crazy as many of us do. I know I'm not alone in that, but I found myself, I don't know, I was irritated at small things that actually are not a big deal. My chair I'm sitting in is basically on the ground and the lever doesn't work for it to come higher. So, my chin is like at my desk, and I have a lot of work that I need to do this week, and this is just a terrible setup. I don't have enough coffee and there was no water in my room, water bottles in my room, blah, blah, blah.
Again, no big deal, but in the moment they just felt urgent, and I was irritated, and I named my emotions, and then paused, and I recognized, Oh my goodness, it's really not a big deal, and I can work around this, and it's going to be just fine. And, when I slow myself down, it just feels so good. So, that's what I want you to think about this week. The power of the pause before you make a decision, before you have a quick reaction, when you name your emotions to tame those emotions, can you pair that with a pause and just think of the pause as just. the slowdown of your day and see if that just helps you feel maybe not quite as rushed or frantic. I'm going to do it right beside you. And, I started today and already I'm seeing some results, and I'm going to keep doing this all week long. So, I'm going to put pause on my wrist. Maybe you'll do the same or put it on a sticky note as a reminder, because the hardest part of so many of these invitations are just reminding ourselves to do it.
So, give yourself a little reminder and allow yourself. To pause and cheering so hard for you. Have an amazing week
As always, we love you, Brooke. We're so grateful for you. So, grateful also to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources. I'm so, so blessed to be able to do this work and to you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming back each week. Thanks for sharing the podcast with others. It's how, how people find, find us. And, I want you to just slow down. Hmm ... And, enjoy the pause this week.