Postscript
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY TO CALM BLOG!! Big things are coming soon! Stay tuned....
I know I am a fortunate human being! I have an amazing family and a great group of friends. I have an extraordinary village of people around me that pick me up when I’m down, inspire me, and show me more love and care than I sometimes deserve. I am realizing as I get older that everyone is dealing with something. Some things are really big and others are small and trivial. And these things ebb and flow as life continues to go on around us. If we didn’t have each other to bounce ideas off of, laugh with, and vent to, I am not sure any of us would make it through this conflicted world. We need other humans in our lives.
The problem is, many of us don’t really like to talk about how we truly feel. And sometimes it feels uncomfortable when someone shares their big feelings. Writing these stories of small moments in my life and expressing my feelings and emotions about it all is not easy. At times, it can feel embarrassing, shameful, and sometimes downright raw to put it all on paper. However, I chose to write all these stories with educators, parents, and caregivers in mind, to get the narrative started among all of us. No matter what we look like, who we vote for, what we do for a living, or where we reside, we have something in common. And that is that we are all trying to navigate through our days with ourselves, our families, and our loved ones by our sides.
We all want to feel cared for and accepted.
We all want to be successful.
We all want what is best for those we love.
And, none of us are perfect at any of it!
We are human.
We are learning as we go, with every new experience, at all ages. None of us were born with a manual telling us what to do and how to act in every situation that life throws at us. We want our children to have long, healthy, and successful lives. And since they aren’t born with manuals either, we need to teach them what we know. Which is why I shared a few of my stories from the course of about a year here in this blog.
Our world needs more reminders of how we can all be unequivocally human. My hope is that through my stories, my readers can see that there is a lesson in everything that nature throws at us. The world can use a little more time to reflect on how to better manage emotions and live together in a community. I think it would benefit all of us to all take a little more time to nurture ourselves so that we can better take care of the members of our own villages.
Social-emotional learning is life-long learning. It never ends. With every experience and every mistake, it is important to reflect and reevaluate how we want to show up for ourselves and others as we continue to move forward. How we relate to others, how we make decisions, having social and self-awareness, having emotional intelligence, and being able to manage it, are all the skills that make up SEL. I truly believe that these skills are something ALL humans need to learn at any age and stage. And if we explicitly teach humans at a young age, we can help them grow even more resilient and strong than we are as adults. Working on these skills for ourselves and everyone we care for is the way we can build a better world for all!
With the heart of an educator, I can’t help but leave all of you with this thought by Italian writer Cesare Pavese….
“Lessons are not given, they are taken.”
My biggest hope and dream is that in this life, we all do everything we can to understand the lessons that life offers us, so together, we can be well, my friends.
