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| Start celebrating! Share your stories at Ruth's blog! |
My OLW.
ALOHA
I tried to live it, embrace it, keep it.It was an amazing word. I hate to give it up (I probably will always to Live Aloha), but a new word keeps popping up in my life.
I don't like it. It doesn't have the emotional ties that Aloha did. It doesn't bring me JOY.
But it keeps nudging me.
It whispers in my ear.
It wakes me up at night.
I think my new word started
Then, we had a couple of fun weekends. One in November with our Hawaii traveling companions and one the first weekend of December with lake friends. Great times with our favorite people.
And I kept thinking, we should do this more often. We could do this on long weekends during the school year. Or even normal weekends. Why don't we take off and explore more often?
But I know why.
It's me.
There's always so much I need to work on for school. Papers to grade. Lessons to plan. Drafts to read and respond to.
And school was the same way. Get through that curriculum. On to the next speech, genre of writing, short story or book. Rehearsals. Rehearsals. Rehearsals. I seemed to forget the fun.
What was happening to me? I was even having trouble finding things to celebrate!
So, I did what I always do whenever I am discombobulated. I organized and purged. And wrote a post about it. I had conversations with others about school life and home life.
And my one little word showed up
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| I love this. Wish I knew who to credit. |
There seems to be common thread emerging from one little words - focusing on me. As educators, moms, wives, women, I think this may be telling us something. I know it is something I needed to hear. I hope this year brings you more balance and many more celebrations. Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteYour consideration of your life & a better way to live it comes through loud & clear. Now that I'm back in the classroom, I'm grasping for more air, missing my days where I did what "I" wanted to do. I hope you'll share your lessons as you use your new word "balance", Deb. We can all use them! Happy 2015!
ReplyDeleteWe'll all be interested in learning from you this year. Achieving balance is an ongoing quest. "Be kind...be content...but never stop improving yourself." My favorite words from your poster.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I read your post with excitement because I was wishing people would explain how words keep choosing them, and about half way through I got shivers because I knew what your word was going to be, and it happens to be my OLW this year too… your choice story was much more eloquent than mine, but we walk similar paths. Nice to not be alone!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. I love to read how people come across their OLW. I'm a definite believer that the word chooses you. I also do this activity with my high school kids. I love to see the words they choose
DeleteYou collected great images to go with your new word--even if you are reluctant to embrace it!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Ruth's post, I have been thinking about our One Little Words sort of like layers in an onion, nesting dolls, or the rings of a tree. Aloha still lives inside of you and always will. Each year we don't let go of a word and move on to another, but rather we wrap a new word around all of the previous layers. May you find balance between the Aloha spirit and the ordinary this year!
"Aloha" has been one of the most memorable and fun OLWs that I have seen over the years. I wondered already mid November what word you would pick after it. "Balance" may not have the spark of "Aloha" but it is a loving word that will take care of you. Happy 2015!
ReplyDeleteDeb, balance it is. Thank you for choosing a word that we all need to focus on. When I am off balance, I know it. My world seem tipsy and I lose focus. Balance brings it all together. My go to activity for achieving balance is yoga so I must restart the experience this week.
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