TL;DR:
- We often focus on love during the month of February.
- One cute idea is to make a big heart out of paper for someone you love and each day write one thing you love about them on it.
- Consider journaling about something you love about yourself each day leading up to Valentine’s Day.
Everybody Loves Love
Here we are in February getting ready to celebrate love. Let’s face it, love is powerful and changes lives. Everybody loves love.
February is also the one time of the year I take a Pinterest idea and actually put it into action. I am sure you have seen this—you put a heart on your kid’s bedroom door to tell them a reason why you love them from February 1st up until Valentine’s Day. Since it’s only a 2-week commitment, this is something I have the bandwidth for. I may write things like: you are creative; you stand up for others; you are so darn funny; you are an encouraging teammate. It takes under a minute to do, and it undoubtedly increases the happiness in our home during a cold, dark, winter month like February.
I will not rely on anyone else to validate who I am or define the gifts I bring to the world at school or at home. Click To TweetSelf-Love
So what could these hearts on my kids’ doors have anything to do with us? Today’s invitation may initially seem a bit out there, but I am going to try this and would love it if you tried it with me. I am going to continue making those hearts for my kids to overtly celebrate what I love about them. But I am also going to tuck a post-it into my gratitude/happiness journal and every night for 14 days, I am going to covertly write down one thing I am proud of or one thing I love about myself. I may write things like: I am a really good friend; I advocate for students and teachers; I can make things fun.
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Mute the Noise
It may sound a bit hokey at first, but here’s why I think we should consider this: Nationally, the noise in education is at an all-time high. Yes, there are some wonderful, wonderful people who continue to acknowledge what we are doing, but there are also some really loud and critical voices that do not. Although there may be fewer of these voices, they are sometimes the loudest. It can be deafening to our ears, brain, heart, and spirit.
Do you remember the piece about being a part of our own rescue? Here is a perfect opportunity to put that into practice. I will not rely on anyone else to validate who I am or define the gifts I bring to the world at school or at home. Not in this season. I know I can do that work myself and I find that pretty empowering.
As Rick Hanson says, “When things fall apart around you, you’re really left with what you’ve developed inside you.”
So let’s dig down deep inside to acknowledge, celebrate, and validate how we show up in the world for our family, students, colleagues, and ourselves. And when that outside noise gets a little too loud again, go back to that list you have quietly tucked somewhere.
Celebrate your people.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Celebrate love.
Celebrate YOU.
About Suzanne Dailey
Suzanne Dailey is a proud member of the Teach Better Family! She is an instructional coach in the Central Bucks School District where she has the honor and joy of working with elementary teachers and students in 15 buildings. Suzanne is Nationally Board Certified, a Fellow of the National Writing Project, and has a master’s degree in Reading. She is dedicated to nurturing and developing the whole child and teacher. Suzanne lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.
Check out the Teach Happier Podcast here!
