JumpStart Chocolate Cake Day (1/27/25)

QUOTE:  "If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow." (Unknown)  

MESSAGE:
MYTH:  Time heals all wounds.
TRUTH:  Healing requires action and work.

Think of the last time you cut yourself.  If time actually healed wounds, your body wouldn’t be doing any of the work to put your body back together.   It’s the same with emotional hurt.  It takes work to put your Self back together.

How can you begin the process?  Here are a few ideas (thanks to LaShawnda McLaurin):

1. Stop Wondering Why:  “Why did that Mom say that?”  “Why did that student do that?”  You’ll probably never get an answer, so continuing to ask won’t get you out of the hurt.  Try asking, “What did I learn?”  “How can I prevent this from happening again?”
   
   
2. Don’t Take it Personally:  When people do hurtful things, it’s not about you, it’s about them. I’m sure you’ve overreacted to some student behaviors because it was ‘the last straw’.  That was about you, not them.  The ONE THING we can control in life is our behavior.  Remember, too, that every behavior is a form of communication, and that the behavior itself often communicates more than their words.
   
   
3. Utilize Empathy:  Try to step into the others’ shoes to understand why they acted or said what the did.  This doesn’t mean everything is OK.  It’s not.  It can just give a new framing to maybe help you not to take it personally.
   
   
4. Let Go of the Victim Mentality:  You are not what happened. You are stronger than that, and you are going to move forward into the world that may not be what you had planned, but it’s probably going to be even better than you imagined.

THIS WEEK, TRY THIS:  The next time you’re really hurt, let yourself be angry - cry, run, hit the punching bag, exercise until you drop, yell into the void… all of it.  When you’re back together, write out what happened.  THEN, at the beginning of your paper, insert the phrase, “I wonder why” and read the whole thing through again.  THEN, make a bullet list of what YOU can do to avoid the same situation from happening again.  NOTE:  This is a separate activity from the whole apology/forgiveness sequence, although it may help that process along.

DAD JOKE:  How Dad are you?  (part 4/4)

• "People don't know how to drive in this town." (in every town you're in)
• "We needed this rain." (every time it rains)
• "That's how they get you." (after declining additional warranty protection)
• "Back already?  How was it?" (when someone comes back inside after forgetting something)
• "That's not going anywhere." (after tying something down)