In this very moment changes are happening. There are murmurings of expected worldwide shifts that will bring an end to many current ways of living. Have you read about these impending changes? Predictions about what tomorrow will bring can be both exciting and unsettling. The future will inevitably bring change. Are you feeling conflicting feelings about what tomorrow brings? The unknown can be overwhelming.
I do not know what changes lie ahead, but I do know I want to evolve and be living with the best version of me possible. Much like my phone, I need updates that fix my flaws on a regular basis. The last 12-months have given me time to reflect. With my normal distractions unavailable I have spent a tremendous amount of time with myself and have learned I can do better. Have you felt this way?
I don’t know if the world is resetting but I do know the greatest reset ever will happen in me and with me because I choose it.
Loving people, do you remember it?
Do you remember loving people? It feels like something that happened in another lifetime. I’ve seen it on the Hallmark movies I am addicted to – there is an abundance of kindness dripping from the tv screen into my home when watching these shows. Sometimes I roll my eyes a bit because of the nonsensical endings that wrap everything up in a beautiful, loving bow. Too much, right? Or is it? Shouldn’t we try for nonsensical love?
It’s so easy to live in a bubble-world where everyone is like you. Of course you love the amazing people in your life, to not love them means you don’t love yourself. They are a replication of you after all.
Can we try harder? Can we love when it’s a challenge? I know we can.
Change happens in me and with me.
I will love.
Growing up when I would argue with my brothers or sister my mom would say, Be nice. When I had kids and they would fight over toys I offered up the same advice. Being nice as a child meant we pretended to like each other when my mom was in the room, but it didn’t last once she left. Is this what we want as a community? Is nice enough?
Do you know people who are nice but aren’t kind? I think there’s a huge difference between knowing how to act in public and being a person full of kindness.
Kindness is something people keep saying we need but what is it? Kindness comes from your heart. It is continual actions of forbearance and consideration. When I think of forbearance I immediately think of my student loan debt so I did a little digging to understand better. Forbearance means even though you have every right to be unkind you behave calmly, have patience, and are forgiving.
Kindness acknowledges you might have a right to be upset, mean, rude, but you choose graciousness. Kindness is deeper than social niceness, it’s something you do deep within yourself, it is an act of compassion.
I’m not saying you overlook abuse, or welcome evil people into your life, but I am saying we need to start going deeper than acting nice, and work on actively being kind. The biggest benefactor of this change will be you. When we are kind we must come from a place of inner-peace and self-love, why would we want to live any other way?
Being nice hasn’t gotten us very far. Let’s dig deeper. Let’s be kind.
I will be kind.
Have you completed a quick run on your treadmill right before a meeting and then realized you can’t find your’s Zoom blazer? or that you have lost the link to meeting altogether? Maybe you started looking at keto recipes to help lose some of your COVID weight and then realized you were late in starting your first period online class. Is your’s at-home? spouse making you rethink your decision to marry? Maybe you have wondered why you thought having kids was such as great idea as they are with you 24/7 making time for everything but homework.
Life has changed. Don’t let the alterations of life deter you from changing for the better. With all the changes we are experiencing right now why not take the time to work on yourself? What area(s) of your life might need an update?
What can you do today to show love and kindness? How can your experience be explained to your children, family, friends so others can benefit from your growth?
As an educator you have a captive audience who listen to what you say and pay attention to what you do. Are you kind? Or are you nice? Are you making a difference? Or are you making a salary?
Let’s dig deep and do better.
I hope we choose kindness and love. I hope every student will see our passion and zest for life and learn how to live abundantly from us. We make a difference, so let’s make it a positive one.
It is undeniably time for a reset.
Change happens in us and with us.
We can love.
We can be kind.
We can reset.
Let’s do this together.
