Someone I admire recently said they were hoping to enter the new year with 20/20 vision for the future. It took me a minute to process, and then I was like, oh, duh… 2020. Dummy me. I love this idea, and I’ve been pondering it ever since. Along with each new year comes the following bold and daring statements:
we are purging this house of all of the crap we do not need and even some of the stuff we do
I will eat only vegetables and drink only water for the next (fill in the blank) days
we will limit all screen time to four minutes a day
I will work out every day for the whole year (Can I get a resounding, HA!)
And then, after a week or two we return to normal and little change has been made.
I fall prey to this unproductive goal-making every.single.new year. Raise your hand if you’re with me.
Clarity of mind in this new year, however, feels right. Sure I’ll purge a little and feel fresher for a bit, but I am truly hoping to reorient my mind this year — what really matters to me?
We’re teachers, and running a classroom requires no small amount detail-oriented planning.
Earlier this school year, someone who doesn’t know me that well asked if I was a perfectionist. Of course, I got all huffy and puffy and mumbled an indecipherable reply, “uh, no, I mean, well, I like things done nicely. I guess, maybe I am — but, I try to be laid back?”
That cloudy reply keeps resurfacing in my brain. I wonder if my propensity to micromanage all of the details has me feeling more frantic and harried than I need to? The year is flying by, yet I have been so worried about details that I forget to focus on what matters. Sitting down for little chats with my students here and there? Um, not as much as I could. How many teachable moments have slipped away in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of do-this and do-that?
I’m refocusing my mind and my vision in 2020. Chill out on the details that don’t matter; focus on the big things that do. The emails can wait; opportunities to connect with students cannot —especially if I hear they’re playing badminton in gym class.
Cheers to a 2020 state of mind — I wish us all a year of clarity and joy.