“There is always, always, always something to be grateful for”- This is on a little sign that I have hanging in my children’s bathroom.  It’s right by the sink so they will see it every morning when they brush their teeth.  I wanted to remind them to try to find some positive in any situation.  Lately, I haven’t been too great at doing this myself.  Teaching is such an incredibly difficult job.  Sometimes it is so easy to get bogged down.  There is always too much to do in too little time.  Dealing with difficult students, dealing with students’ traumas, getting to mandatory PD sessions where you are not learning anything new, active shooter trainings, attending IEP meetings, grading, planning…it all takes a toll.

This week I am on spring break with my family in Puerto Rico.  While we were in San Juan, we spoke to a few of our Uber drivers about the hurricanes here and what it was like in the aftermath.  It was eye-opening talking to them.  One woman told us that she did not have power in her home for 5 months.  FIVE MONTHS!  Can you imagine?  She shared that they had a little generator that they would run from 7PM to 7AM.  They plugged in their fridge and one fan.  They brought all of the family beds to one room so that they could all sleep with the fan.  She has two sons and they complained about not having internet,  not being able to play their video games and of course, no TV!  My own two children looked horrified upon hearing the story.  She then calmly told us that it was not so bad.  She and her family spent so much more time together.  Her boys learned how fun it was to play outside with other kids.  For Christmas, they had no decorations up, but it was the best Christmas they had ever spent together.  No one ran to their room to play with their latest video game.  They were all together.  Talk about putting a positive spin on something!

As I was flying from the main island of Puerto Rico to the small island of Culebra in a super tiny plane that sits 8 and freaking out about the small, enclosed space, I started to think.  All of the things that were stressing me out last week, they were basically good things: I was super busy shopping and planning because I was leaving for a great spring break trip. I am making 3 weeks of sub plans because I’m preparing to take a journey of a life-time in Sénégal. I’m planning my French Honor Society induction because I have so many students who love learning French.  Talking to students about the trials in their lives means that they trust me enough to confide in me.  Having my formal evaluation means I can plan with my amazing evaluator and learn how to become an even better teacher.  Having to have parent conferences about struggling students means that my students have parents that care enough about them to want to meet with me.

What if I could combat stress by trying to see the positive in the stressors?  What if I could look at the incredibly huge stack of papers that I need to grade and be grateful that I have concrete examples of my students learning?  What if I could look at mandatory school-sponsored PD and be grateful that I teach in a district that values teacher learning?  What if I could look at my husband’s snoring and realize how lucky I am that I have this man as my partner?  I don’t think this is going to be an easy endeavor, but I am going to try.  When I get to that head-exploding feeling, I’ll remember the man I spoke to who said his main goal every day post-hurricane was to figure out how he would feed his family.  He told us he turned searching for food into a fun adventure for them.  I will remember: “There is always, always, always something to be grateful for”

FYI-The picture above I took from the tiny plane, while contemplating life.