#JoyfulJanuaryHT: Rebooted for 2018

The tree is looking limp, the thought of a turkey sandwich turns our stomachs and for some of us the new term is less than a handful of days away. Time to reboot and refresh  our January theme. #JoyfulJanuaryHT was chosen deliberately to put a positive spin on what can still be a negative month. Here is last year’s piece as a reference point. https://healthyteachertoolkit.wordpress.com/2016/12/30/joyful-january/

“The New Year will inevitably bring resolutions: cutting down, cutting out, and changing of ways. With equal inevitability these may last a few days before the cold, dark and damp sends even the most zealous promises back from whence they came.”

The first week back: dark and cold evenings, a backlog from last term, the temptations of that last box of biscuits left over from Christmas. That promise of the gym, of hearty vegetable soups, of leaving early….

“Resolutions are all well and good but here at Healthy Toolkit HQ we believe that if a change is going to be made it need not be hostage to the calendar but made when the need to do so is recognised.”

Spring and the season of renewal is actually a better time for change, but with a further three months to the Spring Equinox, what could we be doing for ourselves and for our staff to ensure that the mists of gloom don’t envelop our psyche in coming weeks.

Self-care

Try this: Starting Sunday December 31st,2017, write a letter to yourself about the year of 2017 and set a twelve month challenge to reflect, release, uplift, self-love ,self-care and grow. Time spent in self-reflection is never wasted. The more reflective you are, the more effective you are at noticing and breaking recycled cycles. Why not share them under the hashtag #SelfReflectionHT

“Have a digital detox day, and make it regular. Ignore Twitter and the incessant negativity from some quarters. Turn off the email, Facebook and digital interaction. If you are serious about this, try ignoring the television for a whole day too. And if you can’t avoid the smartphone for a day, try using it positively by capturing positive images from your experiences.”

Care for others

“January can be a challenging month. Though ‘Blue Monday’ is largely dismissed as pseudoscience, the third Monday into a long month can feel dark with a long break between paydays with the December salary often paid in well before Christmas and probably largely spent by this point. Add in dark mornings and evenings, often bitterly cold, seasonal sniffles and bugs and the feeling that everything is bare after the decorations are removed.”

School leaders: please be aware that many of your staff will be returning to teach still suffering the after effects of flu or other winter viruses. Why not try these?

• ‘Tea and Talk’ where you need to create time to actually talk to your staff, not idle chatter but real conversation. What makes them tick, function and perform? What worries them?https://healthyteachertoolkit.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/tea-and-talk-best-drink-of-the-day-best-time-of-the-day-teaandtalk/
• Try a box or bowl of fruit on the staffroom table. Not as much of a winner as cake, but a hearty message that you are considering the functional and practical impact of healthy eating upon your staff.
• Offset negativity: “The ability to stifle a mood doesn’t always result from a sore head, but often from a particular mindset. This can be witnessed across a range of workplaces including our staffrooms. The most effective staffrooms are ones where a positive mindset builds an ethos of teamwork and consistency.”
• Promote positivity. Motivational quotes sometimes receive a less than enthusiastic press, but carefully chosen, so not patronising,  and with good intent, they reflect the mindset and consistency that effective leaders would want to convey.
• From last year, taken on by many of our readers: “Try setting up a ‘Joy Jar’ in your staffroom to which you add one positive and happy thing that has happened that day. Open them up and read them at the end of the month, or the end of the year, to reveal just how much positivity there is in our schools. This is a great idea for classrooms too, to share the positivity with our young learners.”
• Words are our most potent weapon. Make them count. Don’t begin a conversation with ‘Can you…’, ‘Will you…’ or ‘I want…’ How about ‘Good Morning’ or ‘How are you?’ Choose your words carefully. Don’t complain! It wears others down!

There is much more content to come this month and as in our previous themed months we are looking for you to share how you have been promoting positive attitudes into the New Year.

Don’t forget the hashtag #JoyfulJanuaryHT

Happy New Year from all of us at Healthy Toolkit HQ!