#28days of writing

I've fallen off the bandwagon at the end of a rather busy and tiresome week (full of late night) but I did awake this morning to this tweet from +Bridget ComptonMoen which I could totally sympathise with!

Struggling w #28daysofwriting. Can't find work-life balance in any shape or form! Now have writer's block! Need a virtual pep talk! ;)
— Bridget Compton-Moen (@BridgetLCM) February 20, 2015

Oh good. Somebody else was feeling like I was. But as soon as Bridget put the tweet out the help came...

@BridgetLCM you can do it! Its only 28 mins - why not reflect on what happens next after the challenge is up. cc @ReidTeachnz
— tombarrett (@tombarrett) February 20, 2015

@BridgetLCM @ReidTeachnz @lisasquire1 Jumping right on into this conversation... you can DO it YOU CAN do it... slow and steady!
— Anne Kenneally  (@annekenn) February 20, 2015

So I thought I would like to reflect on how I've found this challenge so far.

To be honest I was a bit hesitant to join up initially because I knew that February is a crazy time in the teaching profession. You meet your new class, you set up new routines, you do lots and lots of planning, meet the teacher evening, 3 way learning conferences, new school initiatives etc etc. However I am really glad that I did. The first couple of posts I found excruciatingly hard. I was thinking too hard about what what to write and how to phrase it. I was also aware of my audience and also about the numerous seasoned bloggers whose posts I always enjoy. I actually had put a block on my writing.

What I needed to do (and this eventually happened) was to stop thinking about my wider audience and think about writing for myself. Now this concept is interesting because I teach my students to always be aware of their audience. I expand their concept of audience of themselves and me (as the person they think they are writing for) to the possibility that others may want to read it. And here I was bringing my audience back to me.

But maybe that is what I needed to do to get into the flow of writing. Yes I admit I have started posts then pressed delete because I have thought that nobody would have wanted to read that. However I have gotten better at just writing. It is raw but it is authentic and to be honest I'm not worried if anybody reads it or not.

I'm now back on the bandwagon. I'm going to take some of +Tom Barrett's other ideas and play catch-up.

Keeping the balance - find what feels good!

As per usual the beginning of the school year has been a wild rush of go, go, go and already I have fallen into a terrible routine/ rut of being too busy, rushed and feeling like I have too much left to do.

I actually need to implement a plan in which I can balance school and life and really look after myself physically and emotionally.

Teaching mindfulness to children was a debated media topic at the end of last year. But what about mindfulness for teachers.  How often to teachers get to totally disconnect? I know that I have real trouble doing this. I think about stuff for school constantly - while I'm driving, watching tv, doing chores, walking, breathing... it just doesn't stop. Could teachers benefit from having a period dedicated to mindfulness during the school day? Do we need to disconnect in order to reconnect?

Recently I was introduced to an online yoga guru by the name of Adriene Mishler. She has a website and youtube channel and she is nothing like you would ever imagine. A native Texan, she has a lovely colloquial way of relating to her audience. I feel like I've known her for ages. She's fun and even though I am totally unflexible (extremely tight hamstrings) she makes me feel like I can do it. She also has one motivational saying. That is, to find what feels good. I'm adopting this as my mantra for this year.

Regram from @imbgustafsson! "Day 4 - strength and beauty!" Yes. #30daysofyoga #findwhatfeelsgood Join us! www.yogawithadriene.com/30days It's FREE! Start anytime! Rock your self. Practice mindfulness. Stretch. Strengthen. Trim. Tone. Design. Redesign. Savor. Celebrate!

A photo posted by Adriene Mishler (@adrienelouise) on Jan 5, 2015 at 8:24am PST

Yoga is a great way to help you discover mindfulness and I really hope that I can incorporate it more into my week. I thought I might look at some meditation too. +Karen Melhuish Spencer has mentioned in her recent blog post that she uses the Headspace app to get her mind set for the day. I'm imagining now what a 10 minute "disconnect" at lunchtime could do for my brain each day... I'm hoping that it "feels good".

I'll keep you posted!