My middle daughter, 11 years old, gave me this note the other day, it’s simplicity stuck with me… “have a good time every day…”
Was that how I lived my life … did I have a good time every WORK day?
As teachers, it can be so easy to lose our JOY, to forget why we chose to be educators . After five or so years we often get to the place where we forget that we have an awesome privilege to mould and guide and inspire the next generation …our joy gets buried beneath piles of papers to grade, exams to set, worksheets to make, stencils to draw, bits and bobs to cut out and laminate. Not forgetting the compulsory afternoon sport or club sessions that we have to do at least two of every week … late nights … early mornings … day on day on day on …..and then throw in living in Zimbabwe – which is something only people living in Zimbabwe can fully comprehend, because to the rest of the world our life stories sound improbable and totally dysfunctional.
So … how do we get our JOY back. We need our joy – it is a powerful card to play. It is our ACE of spades that beats all that life can throw at us.
Firstly, we need to believe that JOY is allowable and that JOY is powerful and that JOY is not a luxury, it is a necessary part of our humanness. Look at children, how easily they fall into JOY, how they view the world with energy and wonder…. yet somehow along the way, life’s, norming and conforming steals our joy and we are left as practical, hard-working joy-less adults. We fear that if we show too much JOY we will appear frivolous and childish … so we squash it down and pursue worthier qualities.
So … how can we begin to get our JOY back? Research is proving , “JOY can help our bodies recover from the physiological effects of stress, and they can help us find meaning and purpose in tragic events. Rather than being a distraction, when we allow ourselves a moment of JOY, it creates a respite that makes us more resilient. And the same is true of our relationships. Celebrating small JOYs with others deepens our bonds and increases our sense of trust that we’ll be there for each other when things go wrong.” (aspenideas.org)
” A couple of months ago, I spoke about SMORS – Small Moments Of Reflection…
Today our new acronym is SMOJO – Small Moments Of JOy. Right now, look around and become aware of anything in your immediate environment that brings you joy. It could be the hat, the newspaper seller is wearing .. it could be the incredible red and green Christmas Contrast of the beautiful Flamboyant trees. It could be an ice- lolly or a frozen freezit (penny cool) – you see – you are already saying … Adults don’t enjoy freezits … and have you ever tried a frozen banana? – go on – pop it into your freezer – skin and all and retrieve it the next day … Dee licious!! (cut off the skin before eating it of course).
Tomorrow, when you arrive at work, or better still, on your way to work, look for these SMOJOs … allow the wonder and innocence to bubble up into JOY and begin to enJOY the small stuff … and once you start looking you will be amazed at how much JOY can be found in one single day.
ThriveZim Education 