Hodgepodge 9.10.25

 

1. What gives you energy? What takes it away? 

2. How often do you shop for clothes? What accessory do you always wear? 

3. What's something free that you feel grateful for? 

4. Breakfast, lunch, dinner...which meal of the day do you enjoy most? What's your go-to comfort food? 

5. This week the world remembers the tragic events of 9/11. Do you mark the day in any way? How do historical events shape your perspective on your personal challenges? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Thank you, Joyce, for hosting again this week!  I have been looking forward to answering these questions since I saw them over the weekend :)

1. What gives you energy? What takes it away? 

Years ago at my first job post-teaching I had to take Kolbe Assessment.  Personality tests have always been fascinating to me (whether scientifically validated or not) because people interest me.  Anyway, this was the first time it had ever been brought to my attention that there are things that naturally energize you and tasks that sap energy  from you.  Everyone in my office did the assessment (this one played a part in hiring me because I was a high "follow through" and they only had one other person who scored high in that area and they needed someone else who was strong in that area) plus it helped us understand one another better.  For instance, I like crafting and creating BUT I'm not "creative" so the creative part takes a TON out of me - figuring out the color scheme, font size, design of the page - but I love putting the invitations/newsletter/item together and will do that all day long.  

Just yesterday during our monthly onboarding I was talking to someone about this - I said "solving a problem is what gets me excited to come to work - I thrive on challenges".  She said that her favorite thing to do - what she wishes she could do all.day.long - is talk to people.  We do an "interview" activity at the beginning of our onboarding day - the presenter pairs you up with someone and you interview and introduce them to the group and vice versa, rather than YOU standing up and telling people who you are, what brought you to this organization, etc.  She said, "I wish I could have done that to everyone in the room".  That's such a good thing to know about her now - I now know that relationships matter to her probably more than your average person.

Kendra, the Lazy Genius, just did a podcast on "10 Ways I Feel Like Myself" - so good!!  If you've never thought about this concept, give it a listen.  

All this to say, and to answer Joyce's question, what gives me energy physically is getting a good night's sleep, playing a great game of tennis, and sunshine.  Things that give me energy to "get things done" is being with someone who will problem-solve with me, a challenge or problem to fix/work on/through, something to organize, music, and doing something for my family.  Things that take my energy away are negativity, areas of my house that don't function properly, and not having a purpose/direction.

Teaching all day ALWAYS gave me energy - talking/listening/learning, helping, guiding, being up on my feet and moving all day, working together. . .I loved it all.  What took me away from it was the endless creativity to "make it fun", constantly trying to make people (students/parents) understand, or at least respect, the importance of learning and community, not being "trusted" that you know what you're doing and constantly having to "prove" that you are good through endless assessments and pages of lesson plans, and how unhealthy so many people in education have become - both physically and mentally (through no fault of their own - it's what lat of support - in any area of your life - will do to you).  

Are you still reading??  That was a deep dive - obviously I'm very passionate about this question!!

2. How often do you shop for clothes? What accessory do you always wear? 

Never - ha!!  Well, that used to be my answer because I don't really like to shop - now I'm "influenced" all the time online and Amazon makes regular stops here :). My husband is a great guy and sends everything I don't like back for me (another thing that drains my energy - returns) so I feel free to buy on impulse :). I don't have any style but wish I did - I guess it goes back to that creativity - I can't come up with the outfit, but if you tell me what to put together I can do that. Sometimes I look at pictures from 10 years ago and realize those items are still in my closet and yes, I still wear them.  I'm not very "trendy" so pieces I do buy and keep tend to stay way longer in my rotation than I would assume the average person.

I wear my wedding ring and have recently started wearing my grandmother's diamond with it, "I am His beloved" ring, and my mothers' rings (those are stacked) everyday as well as my watch.  I rarely leave the house without earrings and a necklace - I don't like shopping for clothes but I LOVE jewelry :)

3. What's something free that you feel grateful for? 

Jesus's grace, love, forgiveness, and my life???  Of course none of that is/was "free" but free to me and anyone else on the planet who wants it.  

I'm assuming this was more of an "everyday" joy - I'll say "sunshine" again.  I never, ever take a sunny day for granted.

4. Breakfast, lunch, dinner...which meal of the day do you enjoy most? What's your go-to comfort food? 

Hmmm. . .I think it changes in different seasons of life.  Right now I would say that it is lunch.  I like that it can be big or small, heavy or light. . .that it breaks up my day and it's easy to make it healthy.  Breakfast would be second and never would I choose to make dinner my "only" meal of the day.  I think when I was younger, though, that might have been my favorite - a way to cap off a full and busy day, a signal that it was time to relax and not have to be productive anymore that day.

My go-to comfort food?  Lasagna

5. This week the world remembers the tragic events of 9/11. Do you mark the day in any way? How do historical events shape your perspective on your personal challenges? 

I do not mark this day although I remember it vividly - that, the Challenger explosion, and the start to the Gulf War.  I've heard before that it is the age you are when something like these things happen that decides how much it shapes your life, your viewpoint on things, and how you mark time. 

Anyway, this day was always a hard one to teach in school because the kids just could not relate to it - our world has changed so much since then.  I think they understand the idea of airplanes crashing into buildings - I just don't think that if you hadn't "lived life" prior to this tragedy that you have any frame of reference for how shocking it truly was.  I personally was not affected, but my brother-in-law had been in the World Trade Center the day before so that was a shocking reality for us, that it "could have been him".  He had dropped my niece off that morning (I used to watch her during the day) so when I found out about the events (I missed it all - can you even remember a time when you weren't connected to everything all the time???) I already knew he was safe.  Anyway. . .I've never thought about how historical events might shape my personal challenges. . .hmmmm. . .

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My current favorite picture on my camera roll:

Everything I'm grateful for, right here in this picture - my husband, my marriage, the family we are a part of, the friends we were with, THE LAKE, the season, being together, the sunset. . .enough prosperity that we are randomly on a lake on a holiday Monday night. . . 

Let me know if you blogged these answers today - I enjoy reading these as much as writing them!  If you are not a blogger, put some answers in the comments :)

Love,
Jenni