So essentially I have no summer. That's exaggerating. I do have a month off towards the end, which is more time than most get so I will shut up now. I don't like downtime so this is a good thing anyways.
We get out of school/work on June 15. I will be in Santa Fe for my NEH program from June 17 - 23. We are in NH for a wedding I am in June 29-July 1. I almost just typed June 31... Then I am teaching summer school from July 9-20. And I just received an externship at the Willard Clock Museum in Grafton, MA from July 23-27. And then Scott & I are in a wedding in Rhode Island August 17-19. I am then back at work August 27. And there are various other events happening throughout the summer as well.
The Willard Clock Museum thing came up because we got an email about doing externships to learn how to apply our degrees in other ways than teaching so we then could pass that info off to our students. Most kids think the only thing you can do with a history degree is teach so I applied to work at any museum and was accepted by this one. I did some research and found out it was a clock museum, the guy's name wasn't Willard Clock so at first I was a little disappointed. However I spent an hour with them yesterday talk about what this will entail. I will be shadowing them for about a day. It's a small staff. And then I will help them catalogue some items that have been left around. But what's really exciting is that it looks like I will be receiving a grant through them to be a videographer for them throughout the year. It starts June 2 at an Alpaca Shearing festival. I will make a video for them of that and if they like it, I will be hired to do it for the entire museum as well as events throughout the year. I am really looking forward to putting my video skills to use and practicing.
And in between all of this I am taking a 6 week course that requires 6-8 hours of reading a week from June 6 - July 25.
The whole smiling more thing is pretty hard. It's a very conscious thing to smile that much. I am trying but more often than not I catch myself not smiling and then trying to smile. It is REALLY hard work! LOL.
I had a student (who I haven't had for 3 years) ask me on Friday if I was happy because I looked pissed. I said, "I generally am always happy but look miserable" and he said, "yeah you never look happy".
Super. Never. That's the reputation I want to have.
Well, that's May's goal, I guess. To outwardly appear happy. Not faking it but if I'm happy, I should smile. I get that.
This has always been hard for me. I remember when I was 19 we had to go around and introduce ourselves and give a fact about ourselves the first day of RA training. I vividly remember saying, "My name is Stevie and I usually look like I am in a bad mood but usually am in a good mood - my face just looks pissed so don't be afraid to talk to me. I just look serious all of the time"... and later one of my best friends told me that I was 100% right - that I was happy most of the time but looked angry a lot. My relaxed face just looks pissed/sarcastic. It suits me well since I am sarcastic but unless someone knows me, they probably think I hate life.
I wish smiling came more naturally to me but just know that if you see me and I look angry, I likely am just relaxed. I don't want to be fake. I'm not gonna just smile for no reason.
As I was doing some research for my upcoming Santa Fe trip, I stumbled onto the site for a national park I've always wanted to visit: White Sands. It's too far away to go to on this trip but I was alarmed at the following alert on the site.
Ummmmm excuse me? Missile Tests? I have so many questions about this. For starters - aren't national parks in existence to preserve the area from destruction? Why is missile testing going on near enough that it needs this kind of alert? Isn't this why we own places elsewhere in the world? Why are we even testing in the USA? WHY NEAR A NATIONAL PARK? And if it's near a national park, wouldn't it be near people and if near people, why not Santa Fe? I am beyond confused.
Note so self: don't go to White sands... And do more research on this.
It's chapter 11 (November) in her book but for me May is "keep a contented heart - attitude". This time of year is especially
difficult as the weather warms and as kids get a little stir crazy not
to mention saying goodbye to all the ones I've taught. I also need to worry less and realize that everything is not do or die.
Gretchen took a personality test to see if she was overly positive or overly negative. So I took the same test and got these results:
I definitely am the highly critical type so I thought I would've been more negative than shown above. It's definitely something I have to work on. She talks a lot about how instead of criticizing, you can reword things to say the same thing. For example, instead of saying "Ugh, you never brush your hair" (this is her example to her child), she could say, "I love when your hair is straight - it looks great!". That is going to be what I try to do this month - try to be more positive. She did a "week of no negative comments" which I think would be near impossible but I am going to try it - probably the last week in May.
She also talks about sarcasm. I am one of the most sarcastic people I've ever met. It's tough for me to see something ridiculous and not make a comment about it but I will try to do this less. It's going to be very difficult since that is my style and I like being sarcastic.
I came up with my checklist as well:
The first one is a typo - should say laugh out loud. It's true - you do feel better when you laugh or smile. And I love to laugh so I am going to try to find little things funnier. I hardly ever smile but usually am in a good mood and I appear to be miserable when I'm really not. I don't know why that is but I do admire people who appear happy all the time. So I will attempt to smile more to show I am not, in fact, miserable. I will also try to be more enthusiastic. I am generally drawn to people who are enthusiastic although I am not always enthusiastic. I will attempt to emulate people who are. I will also help people more. Soooo if you need something, ask. By helping people, we help our attitudes. Who doesn't like to hear nice things about themselves? Compliments are on their way! My quiet spot is my bath tub. I already do pray for my enemies - every single day. I need to be more satisfied with life, for sure. I already am pretty kind but I could always be kinder so that's something I'll work on. I am pretty good at listening but I do often times feel the need to answer back with my life experiences and I will try to do that less. Although honestly I learn a lot more from someone when they've gone through something and tell me about it than reading about it online which is probably why I do it too. But I do realize it can get annoying/draining. And a lot of times I am listening but seem distracted. I will try to focus more and listen better and be engaged. For me, complaining is a form of venting and if I don't do it, I might flip out on someone unnecessarily but people who complain a lot are draining so I will try to do that more. And pursuing one's passions is always a good thing since it makes one happier.
This is a lot to accomplish in one month but I will try to improve overall. And if I fail, oh well. At least I tried :)
