Optimism

Well, it is Thursday yet again (how did it get here so quickly?), so it's time for another writing prompt. This week, it will be:

What do you or can you do to promote optimism in and around yourself?

When I saw this prompt, I knew I had to pick it to blog about today. Optimism is something that I have been lacking lately, even though so many amazing, beautiful things are going on around me. I am living in the city of my dreams. I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. I have so many friends to lean on. My cats are the cutest in the world. But it's tough to see all of these things when work has been so rough lately.

I have TWO plans to make myself feel happier and to promote optimism in my life:

1. I will stop writing blog posts complaining about work. I may create a new, private blog to vent and get everything out for myself, or I may even buy a journal to hand-write my feelings about work. Dan suggested that I do this to keep it out of the public so that I don't have to think about it as much. I'll still write about teaching; I just won't talk about everything that stresses me out about it, how the kids grate on my nerves, etc. Part two of this plan for optimism will tell what I'm still going to write about.

2. Instead of writing about the negative things, I am going to vow to write at least one positive thing that happened at work at least three times a week. This obviously will only happen on school days, but I know that in order to see the GOOD in these kids and in the job I am holding down, I need to SEE and appreciate the opportune things that happen during my long days. I have so many great kiddos, and I see so much potential in many others. I need to begin documenting that to make myself happier overall.

I'm sure my plan is not foolproof, so please stop me if you hear me talking negatively about work. Remind me that I am lucky to have a job. Show me ways that kids can be amazing. I DO want to see the bright side. I'll take all the help I can get!

In other news, Saturday is my anniversary with Dan, and he has the ENTIRE weekend off, free from the Academy for the WHOLE WEEKEND! I am ecstatic and so ready to spend so much time with him. We have special plans for Saturday evening, and I will post about that afterward! :)

Until tomorrow,

Janelle