Setting Yourself Up for a Positive School Day

I'm Brian Martin, a second grade teacher who find so much joy and fulfillment in what I do. Being in the classroom for almost 20 years, I know all about the time, effort and energy that you are continuously pouring into those you serve. That's why each week, I'm going to bring you an inspiring message to give you a little joy, and help fill your cup back up. Thank you for being here. And welcome to the teaching champions podcast. What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. This past week, I wrapped up the last full week of summer vacation. Next week, we have a few in service days. And then on September 8, we're back in action with the students, which is awesome. So I was sad, though, to see the summer go. But I'm super excited for what lies ahead. Now there's a lot that I need to get done that though between now and school starting. And I had a moment the other night, it was around 10 o'clock at night. And I just finished grocery shopping, I was unpacking the car, and started thinking of everything that I need to get done over the next week. And it was like a giant wave of overwhelm just rushed over me, panic, anxiety, worry, all the emotions that come with your plate being too full. And I just stood there in the middle of my driveway in the dark. And maybe you can relate to that little bit when things seemed to be a little bit too much in that moment, feeling that overwhelm. So I stood there, and I did some deep breathing. In my mind, I started trying to break everything that I needed to get done in the smaller chunks, started to think about little actions I could take to chip away at everything. And I rode that wave out. Now if my neighbor saw me, hopefully they thought I was just looking up at the stars. But that wave of overwhelm it's hit me enough in my life, that I know how to work through it. Now, you should be thinking, how do you handle it when that good old wave of overwhelm hits you? How do you work through it? It's important that we understand our go to strategies, because when it hits from time to time, knowing how we can handle it is so important for our well being. Now today, I want to talk about some ways that we can keep a healthy mental disposition. How can we show up for the day is our best self? How can we show up for the day for our families, for our students? And how can we maintain our best selves throughout the day? Because there are things that you can do that are going to influence your mental state. And there's a quote from actor, Frank outlaw. And I think it speaks a lot of truth. He says, watch your thoughts. They become words. Watch your words. They become actions. Watch your actions. They become habits. Watch your habits. They become character. Watch your character for becomes your destiny. You know, our thoughts, our words, our actions, our habits. They're greatly influenced by what we take in. They're influenced by the people that we surround ourselves with. They're influenced by the conversations that we choose to participate in the shows the music, the social media that we choose to consume. It all influences us, what we feed our mind. It matters. Those things influence us. They influence our thoughts, our words, our actions, our habits. So we need to pay attention. We need to be cognizant of what we're taking in. One of the things I try and do to set myself up For a good day, in the morning is I think about who I want to be for that day, who I want to show up as being intentional about that. Different days, you know, they require us to show up in different ways. So one thing that I do, as part of my morning routine, as I write down who I need to be for that day, I write three to five ways that I want to show up to the world, I'm going to be a better listener, I'm going to be more empathetic, I'm going to be more assertive. I do this, to set it in my mind about what version of me needs to show up that day. You know, try that out. Write down who you want to show up as for that day. But take it a step further. You might want to say, I need to be more courageous today. Well, what's that mean? What's that look like? picture in your mind? What does being more courageous look like to you? What would be more empathetic look like for you? What does being more positive look like in your world, take a second. Write it down. picture it in your mind, see yourself being that it's all about setting ourselves up for who we want to be. You know, another way we can influence our mind is by paying attention to what you're watching and listening to. There's so much divisiveness out there in our world right now. And whether it's the news or talk radio, it influences us, it plant seeds in our minds. So be careful. Social media is another one that we have to be careful of. There's some great content out there. There's some people who create unbelievable stuff. That can also be traps. You know, my favorite form of social media is Twitter, and the Pl ends on there are fantastic. But every once in a while, I jump on a thread. And before getting on it, I know that is going to be controversial. I know, that is not gonna make me feel good. But sometimes I can't help myself. And I start reading those tweets. And you see what some people put out there. And I can legitimately feel myself getting emotionally charged over this over people I don't know, who have absolutely no bearing on my life, but I'm allowing their nonsense to affect my deck. So pay attention to that. Another thing to watch out for is the comparison traps. There are people out there who are absolutely crushing it, I look at some of these classrooms that people have put together. And it's amazing. And I look at some of the activities they do. And it's unbelievable. And a lot of times, it's a great way for me to get ideas to get inspiration. But I'm not gonna lot. There have been moments when I've looked at what other teachers are doing. And it's made me feel really bad about myself. So pay attention to that. If the people you're following are making you feel less than if they're making you feel not worthy, not capable, not good enough, then that content isn't right for you. We need to pay attention to what we're taking it because all of that stuff. It affects us. It affects our thoughts, our words, our actions. Let me ask you this. Who do you surround yourself with? After you talk to them? Do they make you feel better? At school, there's going to be people that you know, that you can go to and they're going to help you with technology. There are people that you can go to and they're going to help you with the curriculum, navigating the standards, there are people that you can go to and they're gonna make you laugh, and they're gonna make you feel good. Then there are people that you can go to that, you know, they're going to take the energy out of the room. Think about the conversations that you take part in. Are they positive? Are they optimistic, is the focus of the conversation on lifting others up finding the bright spots, thinking of how to make the school environment better? Whereas the focus of the conversation on gossiping, putting down, only focusing on the negative, none of us are perfect all the time. I'll be the first one to admit that I've taken away from the energy in the room at times. But I hope that in the vast majority of the time, whenever I walk into a room, I help lift that room up a little bit, that I can walk out of that room feeling better, and that the people that I was around, feel a little better as well. And that should be a goal for all of us. When we gossip, when we only focus on the negative when we participate in conversations that tear down. Do you ever walk away from those feeling energized? Do you ever walk away from those feeling in the right headspace? No. You have to be cognizant of walking into the right rooms taking part in the right conversations being around the right people. It affects us and it matters. And these little things, they go a long way. The intentions we set for ourselves, the media that we consume, the people that we surround ourselves with. It affects us, it affects our headspace. It affects how you show up for the world, the joy, you feel the energy you give off. So choose wisely. Now I want to share a story that I heard a long time ago. And it's one of those stories that you hear it and it just sticks with you. So I want to share it with you. Listen to think about the meaning and what it can mean to you. It's an old Cherokee legend, pendens called the tale of two wolves. An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. A fight is going on inside of me. He said to the boy, it is a terrible fight is between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. He continued, the other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going inside the view, and inside of every other person to the grandson thought about it for a minute. And then he asked his grandfather, which wolf will win? The old Cherokee simply replied, the one you feed my friends? Why what wolf? Do you feed? Thank you for being part of the teaching champions community. I appreciate you so much. We support we encourage we lift each other up. If you could rate, subscribe, or share this with others. I'd truly appreciate it that helps other educators here. And hopefully it helps encourage that. Always remember, whether you're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain, we're all on that same team. We're all on that same mesh. And we're always better together. My challenge for you this week is to take some time and think about what is one way that you can set yourself up to be in the right frame of mind for the day. What is something that you can add to your daily routine that will fill you up and put you in the right headspace. You have so much power in your control to set yourself up to have a good day. So take hold of your strength, be intentional. And feed the right wolf. Keep being amazing, my friends. And as we go out into this week, may you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody.