SMS Principal Blog

The truth is that stress doesn't come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about these circumstances. - Andrew J Bernstein Coming out of a pandemic is providing me with a lot of things to think about. As I wrote about in my previous blog, there is so much reflection and resorting to do in terms of what we choose to take on and how we choose to reframe our lives moving forward based on what we've learned over the last 18 months. The topic I've been rolling over and over in my head this week is the concept of toxic positivity and how we respond to stressful or challenging situations. I started down this road on our SIP day when I popped into the classroom of a teacher who was watching Ron Clark, the keynote speaker for the Paris Virtual Institute.  For those who have not watched Ron Clark speak, he is very positive and energetic, like super positive and energetic. I did not hear much of wh

Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others. -Brene Brown First of all, my wife is going to be thrilled that I'm using a Brene Brown quote to frame this post. I've never read or watched any of her work, but I'm familiar with her overall philosophy and message based on my wife's fandom. She recommends I read some of her stuff or listen to her podcast or something, but I don't ever find the time to get around to it because I struggle with setting boundaries. I spend a very small portion of my time doing things that I want to do. Most of my time is dedicated to doing what other people want or need me to do. I'm guessing most of you are the same way. We are spouses, educators, parents, coaches, friends, children to aging parents... The list of roles we play is endless, and sometimes by the time we put in all of the work we feel we need to do to fill those roles, there just isn't really much left