*ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 23, 2020*

One would think that I would be used to wearing a mask by now!

I always keep spare masks in my car, one in my purse, one in my pocket, and the one I plan to wear to school on my face as I’m walking out my door first thing in the morning. After driving for only 2 minutes, I realized I had no masks on me. UGHHHHH…so I turned around and went back home. You may think it’s no big deal. Luckily I was only 2 minutes away, right? Well, I live on the third floor of my condo and my parking spot isn’t close to my entrance. Needless to say, I decided that was my cardio for the day! I got a ton of steps in AND my own personal stair master!

I introduced a new song to my first graders today that I haven’t played for them yet.

Today’s Track: The Revivalists – “Keep Going”

I told them that this song resonated with me today because I had a rough morning and just about felt defeated. But I have to keep going on with my day and keep pushing through any challenges that come my way. I played the song a couple times for them and they seemed to really enjoy it! I’m super psyched that I’m turning them into mini “RevHeads!” That is what we call our fan base for The Revivalists.

So, it was a nice learning experience for the children first thing in the morning. They also got to see that I am human and can get frustrated at times as well when things don’t go as smoothly as like…even simply getting ready for school today caused some challenges for me. The important thing is to identify our feeling and then handle it in the appropriate way. I told them that I was feeling frustrated and defeated. I was upset with myself, thinking, “How could I be so forgetful?” But I turned around, got my mask, took some deep breaths, played my music, and kept going.

I think this was meant to happen. They always say things happen for a reason, right? Well, today we were scheduled to have our school counselor come in to our class to talk about feelings. It was PERFECT! It was as if I actually PLANNED on having the kind of morning that I did (TRUST ME…I would NEVER plan THAT kind of morning)! We learned more about chameleons. 

Fun Fact About Chameleons

Did you know that most chameleons change color NOT just to camouflage with their environment, but they change color based on what they are FEELING? This was VERY interesting to me! So we watched a video on YouTube of a chameleon changing color numerous times, but not changing to blend it. This video is a must watch! 

Then we all talked about feelings and colors that we may associate with them. She displayed this sign for the class as we reviewed the different feelings and colors. But she said that we might have different colors that we associate with a feeling, and that is ok. We learned to take deep, long, quiet breaths in through our noses and out through our mouths to calm down uncomfortable feelings. We discussed how it’s ok if we feel a certain way…we are ALLOWED to feel how we feel. What is important is what we DO with those feelings and how we act. Only WE can control our reactions to things. We cannot blame others for how we behave.

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Gotta Practice What I Preach

So, remember how frustrated I was this morning with how forgetful I was?! I even said numerous times, “This is the MONDAY-EST Monday EVER!”I have to practice what I preach. I can’t let a rough morning mess up my entire day. So, I kept going. And going…and going…and going….so much so that I decided to get more cardio in. I wasn’t going to let that frustration decide FOR ME what my cardio routine was going to look like today! I spent my lunch walking with my amazing friends/coworkers, Melanie and Sarah. In reality, me forgetting my mask just pushed me to get more steps in today, which is never a bad thing. 

See, things always happen for a reason. 

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