For the month of October I chose to do a mid month reflection and one final reflection on the month where as for the month of November I decided to only do one reflection at the end of the month. I wanted to do this to see if it had an impact on maintaining and staying with my goals or not. What I noticed was that with my mid month reflection it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my progress and potentially make changes to the things I was doing to achieve my goals. Where as when I waited until the end of the month I didn’t give myself as much of an opportunity to hold myself accountable. This also made it a bit harder to reach my goals as I did not have time to reflect and see if there was a better way of reaching these goals. I think that having mid month reflections for myself is the best route of tracking as it makes my resolutions feel more intentional. I think weekly reflections could help even more, but perhaps this could look like a checklist of some sort as opposed to an entire written reflection. For the month of December I may try out a weekly checklist to keep track of my resolutions and see how it works alongside my bi-weekly and end of month reflections.
Category: Free Inquiry (Page 1 of 2)
This is the category to apply to your Free Inquiry posts.
5 finger breathing is a tool used to help regulate your nervous system and bring you back to a more grounded state. This is a great tool to teach children about for when they are feeling overwhelmed and need help resetting. A really fun craft that you can do with your students to teach them about the 5 finger breathing method is to get them to make their own hand! Students can decorate it and keep it in their desk to use whenever. You can encorporate this with teaching students about the zones of regulation, encouraging them to use the 5 finger breathing when they are in the red, blue or yellow zone.
This video is a step by step on how to create your own hand for five finger breathing
This is a great video that shows children how to do the five finger breathing with their own hand
December 21st is the official start of winter with Winter Solstice signifying the beginning. I may not love the weather that comes with it, but I do enjoy the cozy ways of living during the winter. I like to use the winter season as a time to reflect on the year and take extra time to care for myself. I actually stumbled upon an article written by CBC that talks about the importance of the winter season for Indigenous Peoples. The content of the article really resonated with me and so for my November Resolutions I am creating goals based off of the suggested practices for the winter season.
- Practice Mindfulness and Caring for Mental Health: With the shorter, darker days, Winter can be a challenging time. Many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder and so with that it is especially important to care for yourself in this season. This month I want to make an effort to practice mindfulness and gratitude, I have a journal called “The Five Minute Journal” and at the beginning and end of your day you write three things your grateful for, three things that would make today and a daily affirmation. At the end of the day you write three highlights from the day and what you learnt. I used to use this book a lot and stopped writing in it a couple years back. My goal is to try using this book again every day and at the end of the month I want to see how it has impacted me, if any!
- Learn a New Skill: I love candles, and I spend so much money on buying new candles because I burn through them like crazy! For December I want to learn how to make my own candles! I’m really excited for this one because with Christmas coming up it will make great gifts for my friends and family (if all goes well haha!).
- Make Soups: Soups in the winter are a staple, and I would love to learn how to make more soups! This will help with my previous goal of proper nutrition as well as I can easily freeze or meal prep soups that I can grab and heat up quickly. A soup i’m interested in making is the “Three Sisters Soup” which uses corn, beans, and squash, three foods that are a staple in Indigenous diets and carry medicinal and cultural teaching properties.
The month of November was extremely busy! School is coming to an end and with that comes due dates and a list of assignments to complete. My work was also very busy and so it resulted in me working a full time job while going to school. But with that being said – I did it! The goal setting for me this month was crucial and I think it actually helped me from burning out. Keeping myself accountable for my personal well being and reminding myself to take time, rest and take care of my physical health was an integral part of getting through this month.
Get 8 hours of sleep every night: I’ve learnt a lot about the effects of sleep on your mental and physical well being and so my goal this month was to ensure I was getting the sleep that I needed!
Successes…
- I reduced some of my hours at work to ensure that I was getting home and getting to sleep on time. Although their were still some late nights, this really helped with managing my sleep and making sure I was resting enough.
Areas for improvement…
- I have a bad habit of when I get home from work scrolling on my phone to wind down. This ends up causing me to stay up even later than I should be and have a harder time falling asleep! I do think after work I need a moment to wind down before hopping right into bed – what I’ve been trying to do instead is colour or read a bit of my book to allow my body to slow down and understand that it’s time to rest.
Take care of my physical health: With the increased workload I expected for November I knew my physical health could take a turn with the added stress so I really wanted to ensure I was properly caring for myself.
Successes…
- I went to a naturopath for the first time and it was amazing! I learnt so much about myself and how to view my health more holistically. I was given a health plan and a list of vitamins to take to help boost my immune system. The naturopath I went to was at Advanced Womens Health in Victoria, I would highly recommend them to anyone!
Areas for improvement…
- I did fall ill a few times in the month of November, which is expected this time of the year. My naturopath visit was also closer to the end of the month so I learnt I wasn’t taking the right vitamins I probably should have been this month! But going into December I’m looking forward to starting on this new health journey and seeing where it takes me!
Schedule down time: With being busy it is very easy to get a bit lost in that and forget about how important it is to nurture yourself! I really wanted to focus on scheduling time on my own or with family and friends to recharge.
Successes…
- I had a couple weekends away with family which were so restorative. One weekend we went up to Port Renfrew and stayed in a cabin, roasted marshmellows on the fire and made really nice home cooked meals. This was such a great time and it was really nice breaking up the screen time with so much studying to a bit of nature time with family.
- Another weekend away was a recent one with my partner in Vancouver. We stayed at the Fairmont Pacific Rim for one night for my partners birthday, got massages at the spa, went through a nordic spa circut, ate some delicious food and got to enjoy some rest while checking out the city! At the nordic spa I did 5 minutes in the 8 degree cold plunge and 1 minute in the ice bath that was supposedly 4 degrees so that was a major win for me!
Areas for improvement…
- Sometimes I find it hard to fully disconnect and recharge at home. There are so many distractions whether thats being able to easily access my computer to do school work or notice that something needs tidying and so I will start doing that. I think it’s important for me moving forward to ensure that I allow myself to fully recharge and enjoy the stillness of being at home with a movie or book.
Overall November was a major success, although it was busy and I felt at times overwhelmed I really noticed how having a monthly goal really impacted my mental and physical well being.
Looking ahead at the month of November I see a very busy month. Managing school full time as well as work will have its challenges and so I want to prepare myself for the month to come. Due to my current job and trying to structure it around school, I often work very late hours which results in a loss of sleep. For the month of November I want to try and focus on sleep quality, managing my physical health and make an effort to give myself down time to recharge. Instead of doing a mid month reflection like I did for October I will be doing a beginning goal setting (this post) and a end of month reflection. I would like to compare both methods to see the pro’s and con’s of doing a mid month reflection!
- Get 8 hours of sleep every night: This one is going to be a hard one to achieve as my work hours sometimes do not allow me to have a full 8 hours of sleep.
- Take care of my physical health: Other than excercise and nutrition I would like to learn about other ways I can take care of my body, whether that’s vitamins, or specific types of food, but things that will help my body feel its best.
I’m using the articles I referenced in my October Resolutions about women’s health to help achieve my health goals and needs
- Schedule down time: This will be the most important one I think. Because of how busy November looks, it will be very important that I schedule time for myself to recharge in order to manage the busy period!
It is the end of October so it is time to reflect on my resolution’s I created for myself this month. My resolutions are in detail here October Resolution, but I will go through them individually to reflect on my successes and area’s of improvement.
Time Management: this month I really wanted to focus on my time management specifically in terms of school. I think this is an important skill that I master before becoming a full teacher as teaching requires a high level of time management skills.
Successes…
- I started to use my apple calendar and reminders app to schedule in time slots of when I need to work on different assignments and tasks. This has helped with budgeting my time better!
Areas for improvement…
- I am on the hunt for a better app that I can use simultaneously with my apple calendar, because now with scheduling in specific time slots for school, it looks a bit overwhelming with so many events happening in a day. My thought is to have my apple calendar be my personal calendar and find another app for school specific. This could be useful for work in the future as well.
- Although I have found that I’ve been able to get ahead of my coursework, my school/work/life balance has suffered a bit. Because I have been so focused on getting ahead, even when it’s not necessary, I have lacked on spending time with my friends, family or putting aside personal time for myself.
Excercise: my goal for this month was to take 20 classes in the month of October at Lagree to hit my fitness goals and hopefully win some of the fun prizes they are giving away this month!
Successes…
- I hit 20 classes today! I feel so much stronger than I did at the beginning of the month and am feeling very proud of myself for sticking with it!
- Although classes tend to be a bit more expensive than having a gym membership, I find signing up for a class and paying for it holds me accountable to show up and do the work!
Area’s for improvement…
- Taking 20 classes in one month was quite a lot, not so much on my physical body, more so just with managing my time. It did force me to do something for myself 5 times a week but I think for November I will probably go down to 8-10 classes a month. I work on top of going to school, so often I don’t get much downtime. I found in October I really didn’t have much extra time at all because of how busy I was keeping with work, school and then fitness classes on top of that. In the future I would love to get back to going 15-20 times a month but I think it’s important I give myself a bit more free time right now so I don’t burn out.
Proper Nutrition: I think as many people going to university may feel, it can be challenging ensuring that you are getting proper nutrition. My goal for this month was to try and meal prep and cook at eat at home as much as I could!
Successes…
- I started making protein smoothies in the morning and tried to add extra greens and vitamins in it to get some extra nutrition. I noticed this helped with my energy through the day!
- I made a concious effort of when eating out to try and go for healthy options. (One thing to note on this is that eating healthy out is expensive! It makes sense why students have poor nutrition as a salad is 3x the price of a slice of pizza!)
Area’s for improvement…
- I definitely did not hit my goals of meal prepping and eating at home like I wanted to. I notice that I am always running out the door whether that’s to school or work so it would be good to have high protein, healthy foods that I can quickly grab. Some ideas for this are turkey pepperoni, protein smoothies, veggie’s and hummus, and meal prepped salads! A continuing goal will be ensuring that I am focusing on getting proper nutrition in and having quick meals I can grab easily!
The Zone’s of Regulation is a framework that was designed to help individuals with understanding and managing their emotions, behaviours and sensory needs. This framework shows that it supports neurodivergent and neurotypical learners, establishes better mind-body connection and awareness for those familiar with it, builds stronger connections with peers, and helps with learning enhancment and focus.
The Zone’s of Regulation break our emotions up into four categories….
The Green Zone – this is when an individual is feeling calm, happy, focused; “They have a calm energy and a sense of control”. When student’s are in this zone they will have an easier and more enjoyable time learning and engaging with classwork.
The Yellow Zone – this is when an individual is feeling silly, frustrated, worried; “Higher energy and stronger feelings”. This can very quickly escalate to the red zone or blue zone causing more distress for the individual. When student’s feel in the yellow zone they may start to get frustrated or tired of doing the class activity.
The Blue Zone – this is when an individual is feeling sad, tired, sick; “Low levels of enegry and down feelings”. When student’s are in this zone their may be a lack of engagement or interest in the activities. Their could also be a purposeful seperation created from the student to gain more space.
The Red Zone – this is when an individual is feeling scared, angry, out of control, or even overjoyed; “Extremely high energy and strongest feelings”. One thing to note about the red zone is that it doesn’t just depict anger but can represent extreme overjoyment that feels overwhelming. This zone is probably the hardest zone for a student to be experiencing while in a classroom trying to learn. The extreme feelings and energy makes it very hard to focus and often lead to emotional outbursts.
The zone’s of regulation can be taught and used in the classroom to give students the chance to understand and regulate their own emotions. This could be posted somewhere in the classroom, and classroom dicussions could be opened up around what to do when we are in each zone. This provides students with tools on how to manage their own emotions and support of what to do when they are feeling overwhelmed.
We are coming up on the second week of October and so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on this months monthly resolutions. My resolutions for this month were time management, excercise and proper nutrition.
Succeses so far…
Excerice! I have completed 9 Lagree classes so far in the month of October so I seem to be on track for my goal of 20 classes. One thing I think that would benefit me is making sure I am stretching. My muscles feel pretty sore so I’d like to start doing 10 minutes of stretching in the morning and before bed. I will try to impliment this into my routine, starting with stretching on the days I plan to take a class and then maybe increase that to become apart of my daily routine.
Areas that need improvement…
Time Management… this one has been difficult as I find myself getting distracted with other things. I’m going to try using my Apple Calendar and specifically schedule in time for me to focus on school, cleaning, or my hobbies. I think it would also be good if I broke down my schedule for school into specific classes, that way I dedicate an hour to focus on just History and get ahead or just PHE, etc. I’m going to try implimenting this for the rest of the month and see if it helps with my goal of getting ahead of the work.
Proper Nutrition… this one is so important but I have been majorly lacking. I love cooking and making new things but have found myself being so exhausted by the time dinner comes around that I just order in or get something premade. I’m going to try using the Apple Calendar for the rest of the month to schedule cooking and meal prep times and see if that helps me stay on track a bit better.
Key Take Aways…
It will be important that I use the Apple Calendar to schedule things in but more important that I actually follow it. I think one thing I’ll have to keep in mind is not to overschedule as that will lead to a burn out if i’m over doing it. I’ll need to make sure I schedule enough time to enjoy my hobbies, relax, or spend time with my friends & family as that is so important for maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle.
September was a very busy month, being back at school and working more than I thought I would be. As the month comes to an end I am starting to feel a bit worn out, so I want to reflect on a few highlights that happened during the month of September. I got to see my bestfriend who lives in Calgary and spent a few days with her and our partners in Scottsdale, Arizona. School started and although it has been busy, it has been exciting finally taking teaching specific courses and not just general study year one classes. It also has been a highlight doing observations on Wednesdays at a local school, my mentor teacher is so lovely and the students are a blast! Another big highlight is that my friend had her baby! Even though she lives in another province it has been so sweet recieving photos of her newborn and seeing how well they are doing.
A few things that I felt I lacked this month were my time management, excerice and proper nutrition. With time management I found a tool that seems to work well for tracking assignments and due dates, however I would like to get ahead of the work instead of just making the deadlines. For excercise I am a passholder at Lagree and I really love going, but I found myself cancelling classes more often than not so didn’t get to go as much as I would have liked to. I have definitely fallen off my proper nutrition, because I have been so busy it has been hard to find time to cook at home and meal prep. This has caused me to eat out a lot and have a higher salt intake than I would like.
With these in mind my October Resolutions are going to be as follows…
- Time Management: get AHEAD of the course work. When I have downtime read ahead, work on my blog, work on my sketchbook, start on assignments that aren’t due for another month. Try not to leave things to the week before but instead have it finished by the week before to lessen the amount of stress it causes leaving it last minute.
- Excercise: go to Lagree 20 times in the month of October. This is a fun goal because for the month of October Lagree is having a fitness challenge where you win prizes after taking 5, 10 and 20 classes in the month! This will mean that I will have to take early classes before school to ensure I hit my goal, so getting to bed early is also very important!
- Proper Nutrtion: meal prep and have ready to eat food available in the fridge. Because I find I live a very busy life it is hard to find the time to cook a full meal at home. Instead on a day off or an evening after school, meal prep for the week, have lunchs and dinners prepped and ready to grab to eliminate having to eat out so often when I’m in a rush to run out the door.
Resources for Excerice goal… I choose to do lagree due to research I have found about the importance of strength building specifically for women.
Benefits of Strength Training for Women – UH Hospitals
What women need to know about strength training – UC Health
Resources for Proper Nutrition goal… I’m looking at nutrition from a women’s health persepctive.
Healthy eating for Women FAQ’s from Office on Women’s Health…
You know how at the beginning of the year its common practice to write down your goals for the year, a list of your New Years resolutions? Well I like many people really struggle with maintaining these resolutions more than a month. The classic get a gym membership for a year go all of January and then forget that you even have it. These resolutions that are created at the beginning of the year are all usually important goals that improve things like mental health, physical wellness, financial literacy, or establishing a more balanced lifestyle. So why do we restrict creating habits or quitting habits and bettering ourselves to only one time a year? My proposed resolution to New Years resolutions is monthly resolutions! With this the idea is that at the end of the month you sit down like you would at the end of the year and reflect on the last month; when you felt your best, where you struggled, and how your going to achieve better wellness.
A common wellness habit tracking process is the 21/90 method which basically says it takes 21 days to form a new habit and 90 days to integrate it fully into your lifestyle. So with that in mind for the next 3 months I’m going to commit to creating monthly resolutions and track my progress as I go through the month. At the end of the 3 months I am going to see what habits stuck, what worked and what didn’t and see if monthly resolutions is something I will continue to incorporate into my life moving forward. To hold myself accountable I am going to do weekly blog posts of how my progress is going and share my personal experiences and insights of creating new habits.