Playing catchup today after staying home sick for a day and a half. I find myself repeating these patterns of “push too much” and “overschedule” and end up paying for it. I ended up not finishing the “post once a day for March” goal that I’d envisioned for my March Happiness Project goal, but I want to at least answer the questions (however short the answers may be). Tuesday, March 25, 2013 What is your favourite personality trait that you possess? Before this month, I would have said “creativity.” After reading a letter from my dad to my cousin’s son (who had asked about the traits that his children had…
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february THP recap
How’d I do? February 1) Spend two hours a week with my fiance away from electronics: – We didn’t take walks together. I’m okay with this because it’s been so cold and icy. We can always start our “walk to a Sunday night dinner spot” idea again in the spring. We did this once in the fall by walking to Menotomy Grill & Tavern in Arlington because we wanted a little exercise and a lot of time for us to talk while walking. – We worked on a Cake Pops puzzle while watching House of Cards Season 2 (does that count as electronics?) at the start of my February break.…
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february THP
The February chapter in The Happiness Project is titled “Remember Love” and focuses on the author’s marriage. I applaud her for being able to admit to her shortcomings and describe her interactions (fights, nagging, etc.) but I don’t consider Appetite for Instruction to be an appropriate venue for that. The chapter’s main topics are: – Quit nagging. – Don’t expect praise or appreciation. – Fight right. – No dumping. – Give proofs of love. Though this chapter’s original focus is about marriage, I think a lot can be applied to teaching. In particular: reframing situations rather than reacting in anger, being student-centered rather than teacher-centered, and aiming to empathize and…
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january THP recap
How’d I do? January’s Happiness Project: Go to sleep earlier. Exercise better. Toss, restore, organize. Tackle a nagging task. Act more energetic. Go to sleep earlier – I ended up not using the cute vintage alarm clock that I bought because my fiance made some DIY adaptations to our nightstands. He added small reading lamps (not seen in the picture) and drilled holes in the sides of the nightstand so that our phone chargers could be hidden in the shallow drawers instead of being on top of the nightstands. I found that this helped me fight the temptation to look at my phone at night. I am also proud to…
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unruffling and reshuffling
As I made my way through my inbox, unsubscribing from newsletters in my “toss/restore/organize” phase, I found this article via Behance and 99u.com. It was a lovely surprise among the “six weeks to your leanest body!” Women’s Health newsletters, “40% off bedding” Crate & Barrel ads, and “Wedding Dresses starting at $199!” David’s Bridal missives…and a “that moment when…you realize the crazy person in the article is YOU.” I’ve felt “crazy/busy” before and operated under the assumption that the more I was working, the better teacher I would be. I look back now and realize that my constant motion, harried tone, and rushing created a stressful atmosphere in my classroom…
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the play list
My friend Rebecca posted this great article on Facebook the other day. I like this “play list” idea for my overarching resolution theme of: “use time meaningfully.” I have often overscheduled my calendar, even back when I used a paper planner. I wanted to fill every blank space with an activity so that I’d feel accomplished, and I didn’t realize that I should allow buffer time between activities and rest time for recharging. I still overestimate how much running or barre I can do. I schedule out a ton of workouts and then realize that I have to cancel them. “THE DARE Create a play list. Write down three activities…