Description: This week, Dr. Boogren nudges you to take a little time to think about how you want to feel as you move into your summer.
Resources:
1. Download the app Atoms that Dr. Boogren uses today!
Listen Now:
Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren. This is episode 36 of our fourth season, which means that it is the final episode of our fourth season. This will be coming out on May 19th to set you up for success for the week of May 20th and beyond. I know many of you work beyond Memorial Day, but I just need to find kind of an end point and a start point. And so, for me, as I move into my absolute busiest season, starting in June, I, for my own personal boundaries, remember to take off between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And so, this is the final episode of season four, which is crazy. Time flies. What's the quote from Gretchen Rubin? "The days are long, but the years are short."
So, as we wrap things up. What I want us to think about this week and really beyond is answering that question that I personally return to again and again and again to ground myself. And, that is how do I want to feel? And so, this week, I'm going to nudge you to take a little time to think about how do you want to feel as you move into your summer? And, it depends on where, where you are and what your season is. So, maybe you start thinking about, okay, how do I want to feel for these last few days of the school year? Or, how do I want to feel for these last few weeks of the school year? And, I actually want you to make this a habit if you can, where maybe you actually get to a place where you do this every single day.
That's something that I've been working on. I've been utilizing James Clear's app, which is Atoms, A-T-O-M-S, to nudge myself to set an intention for myself each day. And, I have it set up so that I do it after I do my morning stretches. So, my morning stretches, stretches are an essential part of my morning routine. I think I've said this before. I am like the Tin Man if I don't do that. And so, right when I get done with the, those stretches, I spend just a tick of time, sometimes I'll write it down in my journal, sometimes I'll just think about it, where I set an intention ... And, what I mean by setting an intention is basically just answering that question, How do I want to feel today? And, what's astonishing is that how much it varies.
There are days that I want to feel energetic and alive and just on fire. And, there are days where I want to feel calm, and I want time to feel slow, and I want to feel nurtured. And, we know this. idea that when we set an intention, it actually has a pretty powerful effect on our brain. If we kind of remember that our brains are always looking for an assignment. And, so sometimes whether we're aware of it or not, we give our brain an assignment. You know, sometimes we have those mornings where we wake up and just on our own, just kind of think, Oh my gosh, today is going to be an amazing day. It is Friday. I feel good. We've got things look forward to this weekend. And so, what your brain hears is assignment: good day. And, it ... your brain starts seeking out all of these validations and things that nudge you towards that good day, or to recognize that it is a good day versus mornings.
And, we've all had them where we wake up. Maybe we're running a little late. We hit snooze one too many times. Our pet got sick on the carpet. We got a kid that needs something that they forgot to tell you about, blah, blah, blah, all of those things. And, so we say, Oh my God, today's going to be a terrible day. Well, your brain hears today's going to be a terrible day as it's assignment. And then, it goes on its merry way to point out all of the terrible things, which leads to this affective spiral where it just gets worse. and worse. And, so by just to take control of that. It is not a guarantee, certainly not. It's not a magic wand answer. I wish we had those. But, I've been doing this for a while, and, again, it doesn't take a lot of time, doesn't cost any money. I think it's pretty powerful when I can write it down, but even if I don't have time to write it down, there's something about just answering that question.
It's that power in the pause. If I can do a little five minute meditation alongside that, that's fantastic. But, on days where I'm not able to squeeze that in at the very, I can always, always, always set an intention. It's kind of like I can always drink the stupid water. There is no reason for me not to do that. In April, I was pretty lucky I got to take a few vacations. I had, that was kind of my down time before I move into my busy season, and I found myself even holding on to this habit and this strategy while I was on vacation. And, it was pretty cool, because I got to just pause and think, How do I want to feel today? And, I got to really lean into all of those incredible feelings that we associate with vacation. And, it was like they were heightened for me because I, I set the intention that I wanted them. thought real specifically about how I wanted to feel, and then it was like I was given that back tenfold and it was incredible.
So, that's what I want you to do this week, and that is the the habit that I would nudge you towards carrying with you as you close out your school year and as you move into the summer, whatever that looks like. like for you. I know for some of you like me, it's actually our busiest time for some of you to get a little breathing room, wherever you find yourself, setting an intention can be really helpful. And, maybe you download and try that app. It's A-T-O-M-S. Brooke will of course include it here so that you can play around with that. Or, there's lots and lots and lots of apps. Just many of you know that I am a huge James Clear fan. He's the author of Atomic Habits. So I wanted to try his app and I'm loving it. It got, it's got lots of articles and research and resources there that really appealed to the self proclaimed nerd in me. So, maybe you want to play around with that.
And, here's what we know. We know this, but I'm just going to remind you of this. Set those intentions in the positive state. So, rather than saying, I don't want to feel tired, it's more powerful for our brain to say, I want to feel energized, right? Instead of saying, I don't want to feel X, let's think about, I do want to feel Y. And, let's try to see if that makes a difference in our wording because we know words matter and are really powerful. Hmm. Here's my hope for you is that I hope that today and every day, this week, and for these few weeks where we'll be apart from each other until I return again. As we welcome in Labor Day, I hope that you feel rested and relaxed, appreciated and loved, hopeful, and happy and generous, and fill in the blank. I was going to keep going, but I'm going to let you fill in the blank for, for those last few feelings that you want to have.
Maybe you even keep like a list of like emotions and feelings so that you can kind of welcome in some that we maybe don't think about all of the time. Just know that I'm cheering so, so hard for you. And, I'm so incredibly grateful for you. And, I want you to have an amazing week. I want you to have an amazing summer. And, I want you to know that I will be back after I get through my Season of Sacrifice, my busy season where I hope I get the opportunity to see and meet and hug so many of you. Make it a great summer.
Oh man, you guys, we owe a huge, huge thank you to Brooke. I do believe that it is time in Brooke's life where she needs to move in a different direction. And so, she's going to be teaching me the magic of how to do all the behind the scenes stuff that she has been taking care of. Taking care of for us since day one. We've been together for these four incredible seasons. And so, just a huge, huge, grateful. hug and moment of sincere gratitude to her for really helping to make this happen. And, I hope that I can continue to do it on my own. I know I can, cause she's going to be a great teacher to me.
Thank you also to Marzana Resources and Solution Tree for this incredible job I get to do, how I'm excited to move into summer, even though it's crazy. It's Awesome. And, I'm just so grateful for this work. And, to you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad, I'm so grateful for each and every one of you. I'm closing off season four and including a big, big, big bear hug in this podcast that I hope you feel and can carry with you. And, I look forward to hopefully seeing you on the Facebook page, seeing you in person, or I'll be back in your ears Labor Day. I love you guys. Thanks for all you do.
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