Teachable moment fatigue

I love being in a classroom of adult learners. I am grateful for the diversity of culture, ethnicity, ability, academic readiness and spend a significant amount of time managing my expectations and looking for opportunities to inspire compassion and connection, knowing that my students are destined to be helpers.

However, this political climate has left many of my students and myself emotionally exhausted, often defensive of our personal leanings, and starved for discourse.

So what do I do when I’m feeling “teachable moment fatigue”?

I stop teaching.

I start listening.

And I take space from the hustle and bustle of the 24 hour news cycle and biased op-Ed pieces and choose to sit in the silence, listen to an audiobook, or crochet until my hands hurt.

Because as Anne Lamott says, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

Destination addiction

Summer class discussion topic of the day:

‘Destination addiction’ is the idea that happiness/fulfillment/success is held in some chosen person/place/thing/job that is coming, versus what IS.

Learning how to sit and reflect on your current experiences with gratitude and be present with all that you have is what can reframe your perception that contentment and success is ONLY ahead of you. If you keep those feelings with you, they are always within reach!

It is time to see what is in front of you, express appreciation for it, and hold space for what is coming without obsessing over the outcome.

What’s happening in this moment in your life that is going well??

Sit with it, thank it, and go about your day!

Seek connection, not attention.

This human experience is all about connection. Yet, so many focus on the field of attention. Attention may get you noticed, but connection drives memory.

Connection (or lack thereof) has the power to build relationships, companies, brands, bridges (literal and figurative) while attention is a moment in time.

Connection will bring you back. How that “person, place, thing” made you FEEL, will bring about a physical response.

Attention is fleeting. Connection is a gift you get from the Universe to heighten the human experience.

❤️

Potential

We are all here trying to figure ourselves out, just trying to patch up the cracks and breaks in our heart and soul, just trying to deal with what feels heaviest within.

Sometimes, we try, and another person does not.

Sometimes, we care more than another cares.

Sometimes, we offer our skills, our knowledge and our lessons to another human being and they cannot absorb all that we are.

If someone you care for does not meet you where you are, you cannot keep asking them to do so. Because, we know that aching for someone to reach their potential before they are ready is a form of self-destruction that only you will carry.

Please stop trying to shrink into what you perceive that someone else needs. Let yourself be authentic, and your people will come. The world needs you at your truest self, versus carbon-copies of our lesser-selves.

Stop pouring your energy into a vessel that cannot contain it. Rather, send it out to the world with the acceptance and excitement of reciprocity.

Send out what is good, and goodness will return to you.

But when someone or something does not see all the light and goodness coming from you, do not force it. They are not ready to accept or see it for what it is. It is not their time.

The glow up

A “glow up” does not have to be about having perfect skin, amazing hair, and a perfect body.

The real “glow up” is when we are okay with solitude, okay with conquering challenges, and okay with facing reality.

The real “glow up” is when you’re comfortable with yourself.

It’s when you feel fulfilled, and don’t feel the need to obsess and stress over everything that’s yet to come. Instead, you can sit in the present moment and let it be.

It’s when you can feel proud/excited/happy for others without letting comparison flood you with insecurity or low self-esteem.

It’s when you can speak your truth while simultaneously choosing compassion towards those who may not understand you.

It’s when you stop allowing others to treat you in a way that is hurtful or harmful, and choose to hold space for higher-level, kind people who choose to embrace connection and vulnerability—-even when it’s hard.

It’s when you realize that you are worth all of the good that life brings you, and yet can also manage the curveballs that come your way.