Focusing on Self-Care in My Bullet Journal to Stay Present in the December Holiday Season
The Last Month is Merry and Bright
I have been writing a lot about burnout here on the blog and in my journal. If I look back at my morning pages, it is something that has slowly been building up since we went back-to-school in September. Because I have always felt that December is a month for reflection, I wanted to highlight that purpose in my December pages this month. If I compare my October reflection page to my November reflection page, I have already made some changes in terms of physical wellness and professional wellness. I have engaged in the idea of trying to balance the six different areas of self-care: physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, and sensory. While I always feel like self-care is a concept that isn’t obtained, kind of like “work-life balance,” it is a word that is a strong reminder to put yourself first before the work.
Rachel Hollis in Girl, Stop Apologizing said, “When everything is important, nothing is important” (97). These words are so powerful, especially in December. I am getting better at understanding that everything can’t be important. We only have three weeks until winter break (not four this year!), and I want to make sure that in the rush I am celebrating small wins on a daily basis and setting the intention to practice regular self-care not for the sake of sounding good, but the ability to keep teaching month after month. December is about small wins…and all things merry and bright.
November Reflection
I always start each month of planning with a reflection page. This one works for me. It is tedious writing down positives and gratitude, but I am always in a better mood after I do my monthly reflection. It is so easy to feel like I am moving in the mud. Is the blog where I want it to be? Not yet. Have I completed 30 days of yoga without giving up? Not quite. Why haven’t I submitted that writing proposal? I’m working on it. However, I do like to highlight the small steps I am taking each month in working toward my goals personally and professionally.
My Inspiration This Month
I am a reader and writer, so it seems like a natural pair to get my inspiration each month from books. This month comes from a few different books for a few different reasons. December is when we start reflecting and looking for how we want 2020 to be in our own lives. I start dreaming. I have four books that really speak to “what I am looking for” in December. Perhaps, you are looking for these things, too. I found myself pulled by these four books that I continue to re-read over and over again. The specific inspirational words are 1.) direction, 2.) justice 3.) magic and 4.) dreams.
DIRECTION
Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis
Amazon Summary: “Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women not living into their full potential. They feel a tugging on their hearts for something more, but they’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling short of perfection, of not being enough.
In Girl, Stop Apologizing, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of a multimillion-dollar media company, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people—whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee—instead of learning how to own who they are and what they want. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams, Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself.”
JUSTICE
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
Amazon Summary: “When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. It's addressed to her grandmother, who left the town in shame. But the letter describes a young woman. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding its writer. And the fortune that awaits the person who solves the puzzle.
So with the help of Brandon, the quiet boy across the street, she begins to decipher the clues. The challenge will lead them deep into Lambert's history, full of ugly deeds, forgotten heroes, and one great love; and deeper into their own families, with their own unspoken secrets. Can they find the fortune and fulfill the letter's promise before the answers slip into the past yet again?”
MAGIC
Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha) by Tomi Adeyemi
Amazon Summary: “They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.”
DREAMS
For Everyone by Jason Reynolds
Amazon Summary: “For Every One is exactly that: for every one. For every one person. For every one who has a dream. But especially for every kid. The kids who dream of being better than they are. Kids who dream of doing more than they almost dare to imagine. Kids who are like Jason Reynolds, a self-professed dreamer. Jason does not claim to know how to make dreams come true; he has, in fact, been fighting on the front line of his own battle to make his own dreams a reality. He expected to make it when he was sixteen. Then eighteen. Then twenty-five. Now, some of those expectations have been realized. But others, the most important ones, lay ahead, and a lot of them involve kids, how to inspire them: All the kids who are scared to dream, or don’t know how to dream, or don’t dare to dream because they’ve NEVER seen a dream come true. Jason wants kids to know that dreams take time. They involve countless struggles. But no matter how many times a dreamer gets beat down, the drive and the passion and the hope never fully extinguishes—because simply having the dream is the start you need, or you won’t get anywhere anyway, and that is when you have to take a leap of faith.”
December Pages
Merry writing. Bright mindset. I love this month’s layouts and focus on self-care. Plus, the little snowman is pretty great.
I kept my monthly layout the same from last month. it worked to have my simple goals, both personal and professional at the bottom, and then I was able to fill in the rest of the month with commitments. I did not put my yoga on here or school appointments. I will continue to keep these for my weekly layouts.
First Weekly Spread
Once I find a weekly spread I like, I tend to use it over and over again. I really like the simplicity of the “check-off” system when it comes to reading, writing, and physical wellness. I also am going to try to write my bedtime and waketime on my weekly spreads because I was struggling with keeping up with the tracking style on my other layouts. I also am a person who wakes up a lot and readjusts, so It was hard to mark when I was getting continuous sleep.
Self-Care Layouts
I don’t know who needs this for the upcoming weeks, but something I am going to try to do is track my small wins when it comes to teaching. I am hoping this will be a good mindset check as I focus on the 15 teaching days in December. These days will include my evaluation observation, a round of state testing, and maintaining positivity as we head off to winter break.
I focus on six self-care areas when it comes to wellness. Here are my specific actions that go under each area-ornament style layout.
I talk about morning pages a lot here on the blog. I journal (or try to) each morning before work or right after work. I have got into the habit of focusing on the things I need to let go and also celebrating wins. Because I have been doing more and more yoga this month, I loved the idea of inhale and exhale in order to develop a theme for morning pages. Note: the exhale page was inspired by a brain dump page from ourmindfullife.com. Some days I need to inhale and some days I need to exhale, most days I need to find a balance of both. This template is a good reminder to keep seeking balance.
I wanted to insert a fun page in here that celebrated what is great about December and winter in general. When the weather turns cold, so does my mood. I have lots of things that make me happy in winter, though! I am also excited about this book: Stories for Kids Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing People Who Stood Up and Stood Out by Ben Brooks. Some of my sixth-graders are doing biographical reports this marking period, and I think this will be a perfect addition to our unit of study.
