Description: This week, Dr. Boogren brings back an oldie but a goodie to remind the Squad to show themselves some compassion for all the things we accomplish.
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and this is our fourth season, and it's episode 35, which means we're getting darn close to the end of the school year, which is just mind blowing in so many ways. Woof! Anyway, okay. So this week, what I want us to think about is something we've talked about before for sure, but yet it's so good to keep talking about it and to bring it back. What I want us to think about this week is setting aside time to work on our ta-da list. Ta-da! It's exactly what it sounds like. It is a list of celebrations. As you reflect back on this school year or this calendar year or whatever, whatever field you're in, whatever way it works. My ...
I know most of you are in the education field. And, as we think about this particular school year, that's what I want us to focus on are all of the celebrations that you've had this year. You know, our brain is oftentimes kind of hardwired for that negativity bias. And, we tend to perseverate and think about, uh, the things that we didn't quite accomplish or the growth that we didn't quite see, or all of those just negative things that kind of get stuck in the front of our brain. And, what happens is we forget all the good stuff. And, I know for each and every one of you listening, there's so much good stuff. And so, this week is about slowing down and taking time to reflect on all that good stuff. So, I want you to grab your journal, grab a piece of paper, open up a new document on your phone or on your computer, and I want you to label it at the top: Ta-da!
And, I want you to put the school year, and I want you to remind yourself of what you were doing. What your title was or who you were teaching, whatever it is, and then I want you to start a list, and I want you to continue to work on that list all week long. Because, what I want it to do is to kind of prime our brain to get out of that negative bias thinking and to spend our week going, Oh, yeah. I did that this year. Or, Oh my goodness, that student, now that I think about it, has come so far from where he was even just a few months ago. Or, Oh my gosh, in the work that I have been doing in coaching this new teacher and what I have seen, seen in terms of her building her own expertise and confidence and self-efficacy ... that those are the things that I want you to start listing.
And, I want you to also, you know, think about your own personal life. Of course, you know, we don't have these hard, bright lines always between our personal lives and our professional lives, nor do I think that we always should. So, I want you to think about in particular. Your wellness and your self-care. What are your celebrations rather than getting tripped up on? Oh, I said it, you know, January 1st, I was going to work out every day for an hour. Remember our January 1st resolutions tend to be not don't serve us well. Let's put it that way. So, don't get stuck in that thinking instead go, You know what? Maybe I didn't work out an hour every day. Like I thought I would in January, but you know what I did do? I drank that. I made my lunch more often than not. I have been walking more. I have really, really thought about how to reduce my stress. I've made a lot of time for the people that I care about. I've set some hard boundaries between when I'm working and when I'm not working.
I mean, boom, those are huge ta-das to write down right there. There that you're thinking of nothing is too small here. And, I think it's gonna kind of shift your week. Perhaps as you get your brain primed and ready to look for the ta-das. I'm gonna do this with you of course. I never, never ask you to do anything that I'm not doing alongside you and lots of ways that you can tweak this. So, I've shared this strategy for a while, and I've had some so many, many teachers send me pictures of to ta-da's that they have created either with their class as a whole or pictures of individual to ta-da's that students have created. If you work with educators, if you are a school leader, maybe this is a culminating. practice strategy activity that you do at one of your faculty meetings or during some professional development time that you have. There's lots of ways you can tweak this.
Maybe you do this with your own children as they wrap up their particular school year. What are their ta-da's for third grade or whatever it is. Nothing, nothing, nothing is too small here. I want you to really celebrate and what would be the real icing on the cake is to share this then with someone else. So, maybe you've got a colleague that is a real thought partner with you and you guys both kind of do your list separately and then come together and share them. Or, maybe you share with your own family or with your partner or with a friend or with your parents. Whatever, whoever those people are that you surround yourself with, it's pretty cool to share and to celebrate with each other and, and to give that gift of being a really great listener. Remember I call this listening like heaven as they share their own list with you. Maybe you, maybe you make a real celebration out of this. You take yourself to coffee or out to dinner or some way to put a little bow on, on the year and really. Raise a glass and toast to all of these celebrations.
I wish I could do this with all of you individually. Just picture me sitting beside you with my hand on your back, telling you how stinking proud I am of you. Really, really nudging you to keep pushing and keep going. identifying those amazing things that you have done this year and know that I am cheering so incredibly hard for you. I hope that this allows you to have one of the best weeks of the year and I would love to hear how you utilize this or jump on over to the Facebook group and share some pieces from your list or lots of you send me emails or direct messages, which I absolutely love. Please keep doing that. Please keep doing that. And, feel me cheering so hard for you this week.
And, always, oh, speaking of gratitude and thanks. Thank you so much, Brooke, for making this happen. We're so grateful for you. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this incredible job I get to do. And, for you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Ta-da! You're amazing. Make it a great week.
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