A Word or Two...
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • All Kids Can Write

I choose joy...

12/30/2019

 
Picture
I choose joy! Joy will be my one-word going into 2020!

Last year, my word was "lightening", and all year long I dedicated my energy to lightening the work world around me through my job as a literacy support specialist. I spent my year training teacher teams, supporting teachers and administrators, serving students in my district, designing curriculum, following leaders. To borrow a quote, ​It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The model was not working. Too much of my brain space was scattered in small pieces across too many challenges that could not and would not be lightened by my efforts.   No. Matter. How. Hard. I. Tried.

Fast forward to today. This morning I went out for a long walk. I could not run because my right knee is not feeling great and I'm wary of seriously injuring it. So, there I was, walking at a fast pace (no knee pain) and feeling surprisingly joyful. Not being able to run usually irritates me. I am a slow jogger, but I am dedicated to and dependent on those amazing endorphins that cheer the rest of my day after a morning run. I can count on one hand the number of runs in my life that have been easy. I started running late in life, and it usually feels less of a run and more of a workout. That's fine!! I love the sweaty, accomplished feeling that fills me up after my version of a run. Slow or not. Jog or run. 4 miles per hour or 5. Never matters. As long as the action was running and not walking.

So, why was I feeling so joyful this morning?

I have realized that the effort that is required during my runs, those workouts, taps into my cognitive energy as well. In other words, when I'm running, I'm so focused on breath, legs, distance, time, etc., that I don't have the capacity to think, wonder, ponder, plan,...enjoy. Kicking back my run to a fast walk has given me the brain space to think, wonder, ponder, plan,...enjoy the world around me as I go. I can watch the sun color the sky behind clouds as it rises. I can slow dow so as not to scare the deer or rabbits hanging out by the trails. I can listen for the eagle's cry and search the treetops for a glimpse. Walking gives me the space to fill up my soul with joy.

The same joy is present now everyday when I go to work. Kicking back  to the classroom has given me the brain space, and heart space, to love what I do again. My days are filled with all the space I need to feel joy - the joy of teaching my twenty-one students, the joy of working with a brilliant and generous team, the joy of following leaders with vision who care about me, the joy of being in a community full of support and kindness. Teaching gives me the space to fill up my soul with joy.

What might have seemed like a step back has proved to be a blessed leap forward in my journey - as an educator and as a human being. I will choose joy this year. In everything I do. And I know that choosing joy is not always easy or intuitive depending on the circumstances. But, when soul recognizes passion, and passion finds expression, and brain and heart space both exist for passionate expression to build and grow, joy abounds.

Happy New Year! May you find joy in all that you do in 2020!

#allkidscanwrite


Comments are closed.

    Why write?

    I once heard the story of a writer who caught her own reflection in a window. She realized that once she moved past that window, the moment of her reflection would be lost to her forever.

    And so it is with all of our lives. 

    Writing is catching a life moment in words... keeping it visible to be remembered, to be cherished, to be learned from.

    Preserving it forever. 

    That is why I write.

    Archives

    September 2022
    June 2022
    August 2021
    June 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    December 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Agents
    Authors
    James River Writers
    Revision
    SCBWI
    Story
    Writer
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.