I’ve always loved this quote by Oscar Wilde. If I do nothing else, but be the best version of myself and aim to leave this earth with the most beautiful soul possible, then I would have lived a worthwhile life. We are raised in a world where, “higher, smarter, faster” is celebrated. Don’t get me wrong, those things should be celebrated, because you don’t get there by just sitting on the couch. But “higher, smarter, faster” at the expense of what makes my soul come alive is not the way I would like to measure my achievements on this earth. These thoughts mark the beginning of my journey to starting the blog and the community for educators called, “Thrive”.
This picture marked the beginning of me being cognitively aware that I needed to change my current set of circumstances. Part of this journey to “thrive” has evolved through writing free verse poetry. Through allowing space for this innate expression of creativity I have become more in tune with who I am and what makes me come alive.
A swan - made for wild open spaces ...
Yet
in a glass-
contained -
unable to spread out - spread forward -
dive deep - swim through.
Yet
there is one hope of change....
The sky above is open - no bars
no bottom
so flap up
flap hard
and fly to wild open spaces
to freedom
to be what you are created for.
Everyone likes to know who they are talking to. In this age of screens we yearn for human connection. My name is Zenobia (Zeno-via) Fick. Mother of 3 beautiful daughters. I’ve been teaching teens and tweens for 15 years. I’ve decided to share this journey to THRIVE with you, especially you who happen to live in Zimbabwe, because I have grown and found freedom in reading about other people’s journeys. The picture below is of me and my bestie, the day that a conversation about dreams and goal setting lead to THRIVE being born.
This is me, and by bestie, Quintin, on the day that the “THRIVE” idea came knocking on my door, and I heard it’s sweet and joyful voice, and I welcomed it saying, ” come in, I’d love to bring you to life.”
This blog is linked to fb.me/thrive.zimbabwe and the goal is to build a community of educators who are thriving in their professions. Because when we thrive we are truly living and when we are alive we can bring about the revolution that education needs. We owe it to our own and the next generation to be the change we all talk about, but so often feel powerless to achieve.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb
This is a mini post – just a few small thoughts worth sharing so you can spiral up when you feel trapped in a downward spiral.
Ingrid Fetell Lee (The Aesthetics of joy) writes about downard emotional spirals and how to break them and spiral up. “Emotions spiral either up or down because they build on each other and unconsciously promote thoughts and behaviours that reinforce our current mental state.” When we are agitated and moody, everything we interact with is clouded by that emotional state. However, the good news is that “researchers who study positive emotions have found that even a brief burst of positive emotion, (like taking a walk outside away from the stressors), can disrupt a downward spiral and kickstart a positive one. Negative emotions narrow our focus inwards, positive emotions broaden our attention and make us more open minded. Instead of thinking that it takes too much effort to create a small moment of joy (SMOJO) in a hectic world, it is actually the first link in a chain reaction to spiral upward.”
We should have met this weekend for a Thrive burst session … face to face in Harare… coffee and cake. Educators sharing our lives, our recent stories and reflections of our teaching journeys. To keep our connections alive I decided to write something for us to share and ponder together.
Reflection question: Why did you go into teaching
My answer: I went into teaching because I wanted to have more impact and input into people’s lives than sitting behind a desk allowed me. I wanted to know that my daily efforts would bring good to others. I wanted to go on a journey with people. I wanted to feel that I was building community.
What’s your answer to this question? I think in answering it, you will rediscover your purpose and in these uncertain times it is easy to lose our sense of purpose and feel discouraged and overwhelmed. When we know our purpose we are able to withstand a great deal more than if we are unsure of the why of what we are doing. When we are fulfilling our purpose that’s when we truly come alive.
(Chicken soup for the soul co-author )
There is stuff we inherit along our life journey, like threads in our tapestry so to speak. Some threads are beautiful and bold, others are frayed or have knots pulled in them. Even in the purity of knowing our purpose and reflecting back to our personal why of teaching we can easily be tripped up be things that come to distract us and frustrate us. Many of the frustrations come from our own perfectionism, or are inherited from our heads of department or our school Admin. Or quite possibly from navigating through the unknown territory of a global pandemic. It is a hard and courageous but incredibly necessary thing to take an audit of our current situations and evaluate if there is anything that is clouding our sense of original purpose and stopping our souls from thriving.
Reflection Questions – What are some of the things that frustrate you or make you forget your purpose right now? What can you do to remove these triggers and keep your passion alive? Think microsteps.
One of my most liberating moments in teaching was to realise that my worth as a teacher was not measured by how much homework I gave or how many books I marked but on how the children in my class learned and had time in their life to be children.
Reflection Question – what is one thing you have tried or would like to try that goes against the majority but you really feel it is worth the risk?
The other day, my sister reminded me that children learn by asking questions – less so by answering them. So I decided to put myself at the mercy of my 15 year old Geography students and each came up with 3 test questions on the current topic we were studying for me to answer as an assessment of how much they knew. It was a pleasing experience for everyone, although I must admit my brain was fried.
I’d love to hear your responses to the reflection questions. Feel free to whatsapp them or put them in the comments place below. We all learn from each other’s braveness.
Hello Wow! Are we really in the middle of our School year? In some ways it feels like it has flown by but for the most part, it has been long and bumpy and we are amazed to have made it to the middle of this journey. Now, with 3 weeks “off” we have a chance to bring some sense of normal to our wheels of teacher life.
Many of our “wheels” are not looking all uniform and pretty like this one. How is yours? Maybe take a moment and draw it, you could be surprised and find it is not as squished as you think, or you could be quite horrified to see the truth in picture form before you. (List of wheel segments at the bottom of the post).
As Educators, we so often roll up our sleeves, push past our emotions and physical tiredness and just keep going. But sooner or later whether we believe it or not we are allowing a life pattern that will eventually lead us to burn out, and not everyone is able to bounce back from burnout. We all think it won’t happen to us, until it does.
Brene Brown writes about the 3Cs of resilience, being:
1. Courage 2. Compassion 3. Connection
So often we believe that courage is played out by forging forwards, denying our wants and setting our faces like flint. Yet if we do not show compassion for ourselves and empathy towards others we will ultimately lose our ability to connect with who we really are.
We need to pause long enough and reflect on what is draining us and deliberately choose to do something to inspire feelings of restoration. This takes a huge amount of courage.
Try this: for the next 5 days, ask yourselves this question, Which segment needs some attention. Don’t ask with your mind but ask with your body ….ask, ” What does my body crave?” and write down your answer. You may find a basic need like enough sleep is not being met or that you really want to treat yourself to a huge slice of your favourite cake or a movie day or time outdoors … After the 5 days, reflect on what you have written and make a commitment to connect with yourself and work towards meeting that need or want.
Invest some time in yourself. ********************************************************************************************************** – each of the coloured segments stands for
movement/exercise leisure/lifestyle rest/sleep work/career social contribution relationships finances life purpose environment nutrition mental health emotional health (list courtesy of Meta well being)
I started this blog and THRIVE.zim education almost 2 years ago, to share my personal journey to THRIVE as an educator. I’ve lagged behind a bit in keeping this blog up to date with my Education related musings and so here I am sharing some back thoughts – more for me – to keep all my thinking and journeying in one place and possibly to bring some useful thoughts that resonate with you, whether you are an educator or not.
Our Zimbabwe school terms run from January to December, and when I wrote this in March, which would have marked the middle of the First Term 2021 we were still doing online school.
Here are my then reflections – We had all hoped that half term would mark the beginning of the return to real class rooms filled with noisy children and a staff room filled with chattering colleagues. No doubt we envisaged mask wearing, sanitising and social distancing, but it would do, as a step towards getting to be back to as normal as possible. Alas … we are still online for at least another two weeks and we all have our speculations as to if we will go back this term or not.
Here are some thoughts to reflect on as we wait and see how things will unfold.
How do you celebrate the end of each work day?
Yes, I did say “each work day!” It seems quite ambitious doesn’t it? Yet we give so much ourselves each day and each day should have a moment we pause, breathe and stop working and remember to be a human.
I know all of you will relate to the incessant hamster on a wheel type days we are living. Online schooling, whatever it looks like at your school, is a relentless taskmaster and often long after the dinner dishes have been stacked – the laptop is still out and the fingers are still tkk tkk tkk ing preparing, marking, researching – how can I keep students engaged, are they learning enough, will admin be pleased with my efforts? Tkk tkk tkk tkk …. going on for school admin too… what’s the best strategy to keep all stakeholders as happy as possible, can we get ministry approval to open, what of our fellow teachers in government school and a myriad of other burdensome questions. Suddenly 10 or 11 pm and time to shower and sleep and then we wake up and start again.
Do you have any rituals or daily routines that celebrate the end of your work day? Teaching of all professions has always had a problem with stopping work at a certain time … as educators we have always burned the midnight oil. Yet it times of global stress like these we have to contend even more for our sanity, our family time, the very meaning our everyday lives. All over the globe more and more people are realising that burnout and stress are not the price we need to pay for success. We need to normalise this truth as educators.
If we each, one at a time, yet together, begin to release firstly ourselves, then our colleagues and take off the badge of burnout, that we have been subtly told is an honour to wear and a measure our worth as an educator, we can start to create a new norm within our spheres of influence.
It is not an achievement to work until we are burned out. Helen Keller said, ” I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” We can bring change to at least our own lives and that is a start. Finding personal freedom is the beginning to bringing freedom to others.
I chatted to a life long friend a couple of weeks ago and asked her how school was going, and I loved her reply – she said, “I’m not letting school take over my life” and she had just come indoors from picking some vegetables from her garden for dinner. Now, that’s something simple and do-able to celebrate the end of the work day. Celebrate by stopping work and going outside … take a walk, pick some vegetables if you are green fingered enough to grow them – even a few fresh herbs grown in a pot can bring a taste of delicious and a sense of joy to your life. Have a cup or a glass or your favourite something … or simply just pause and take a deep breath and give thanks for the passing of another day. For each moment passed in contemplation and gratitude fills the soul with strength and peace and joy will come again.
I’d love to hear what ideas you are thinking of incorporating into your daily life or if you already have established “celebrate the day” rituals. Please do share in the comments below.
I find God in the mountains
in the vastness of timeless granite
and sun bleached golden grasses.
In the towering storm clouds etched over striking blue.
In the wilderness and open space.
no boundaries
no borders
just time and eternity
today, tomorrow and yesterday.
They've always said that the eyes are the windows of the soul.
They've always said that a real smile is reflected therein.
Now, after a year of walking with faces masked,
only eyes out,
I agree with how true this is;
For a soul that is filled with love and light cannot be contained behind a mask,
but love and light and laughter lines
of shared humanity and hope will exude.
I see your truth in your eyes.
long enough to see the raindrops on a leaf ...
slow down
to have a bath instead of a shower ...
slow down
to percolate coffee instead of instant ..
slow down
to hold that once small hand instead or rushing.
Slow down
to listen and not just hear.
Slow down
To stretch instead of aching.
Slow down
To give thanks instead of complaints.
Slow down
to breathe deeply ... ...
instead of shallow.
Slow down to live; don't just exist.
2020 came and went and we survived! Yet “survival” is not a word I want to keep on my “go to” word list.
When I started Thrive.Zimeducation in August 2019, I had no idea that there was a big sister out there, Thrive Global, who had the same vision but on on much larger, more seasons under their belt level. What I had been feeling personally but not uniquely as a Zimbabwean educator coincided unbeknowingly with Thrive Global’s vision to “end the collective delusion that burnout is the price we have to pay for success.” Thrive Global focuses on ending burnout and building individual resilience using science backed research and providing tools to help build resilience and productivity. As we journey together to the ultimate goal of saying whole heartedly, ” I teach, I thrive”, ( I ….., I thrive); know that we are in good company and on the cutting edge of best practice.
‘The quietest morning of the year. Humanity lying asleep, recovering from a night of merriment or misery, Dreaming of the past and possible futures. Finally submitting to the forces of nature and allowing rest. Excited or maybe afraid for the new year to come. Yet the outgoing tide of 2019 And the incoming of 2020 has cleared the beach giving us a new canvas No feet, small or great, wise or foolish have ever walked this way before. We are the first. What lead will we give? What footsteps will we impress in untouched sand? When you look back after 366 days of walking, What do you want to see imprinted in the sand behind you?’
I wrote this on New year’s day 2020 and now as I write and reflect on the outgoing tide of 2020, I ask myself the question posed, “When I look back after 366 days of walking, what do I see on the sand imprinted behind me?”
None of us could have ever anticipated all the greys, browns and dark, dreary colours on the 2020 palette. Many of us feel frazzled and rattled and unsure. How can we go forward into another new year when we are so acutely aware of how unpredictable life is. What can we do to still our minds to realign our hearts and souls? We can start by looking back and noticing the glimmers of light and the yellows, bright blues, pinks and purples that were present in 2020. I find my instagram account helps me to remember many of the bright spots I have forgotten. Most are simple, like sharing countless pots of tea with my family or taking more walks, but they are good things that can easily get overlooked and hidden behind the greys and browns of loss and unfulfilled expectations. Once we look back with gratitude, it is far easier to go forward, albeit, one step at a time
Here are some reminders of tips that we have spoken about at Thrive.zimeducation. Let’s use them to help us journey onwards, because after all, the journey is in fact the destination (Ralph Waldo Emmerson (Philosopher and poet 1803).
Reflect on the new year as a blank canvas. (Deliberately choose to look for yellows,blues, pinks and purples and make a point of celebrating them and giving them some attention – we call this joy spotting) Control what you can by setting micro-step goals. ( Eg: your Health – drink more water, exercise – stretch once a day, study just a chapter more of your teaching subject or do some spiritual reflection, practice kindness and patience with yourself and others) Include some time for creativity to refuel or restore your soul. (Choose one new recipe, start a new hobby, take a walk in nature, start that “for fun” project ; creativity is not frivolous time wasting, it is the difference between surviving and thriving)
As we journey on let us keep hope alive and never lose our joy in teaching or whatever other career we are in. Let’s embrace what is new and share the freedom with our colleagues. We can teach (or ….) and thrive together. We don’t have to survive, we can live our best version of the set we find ourselves on, here and now.
Joy left our home.
She went walking backwards as we were reminiscing ...
it was better ... when we used to ...
She left the door open and allowed sorrow in.
She journeyed for quite some days, even months
until we thought she was gone for good.
But suddenly, unexpectedly we found her:
in sunlight,
under blue skies,
on butterflies wings,
in green leaves and flowers
and in the touch of seed sprouting soil.
We saw her in a stranger's eyes,
in music and in poetry.
We saw her in wrinkled hands and dog-eared story books.
We saw her in children and in pets playing
and in cups of tea.
We breathed deep ...
and smiled from our souls.
Purple ponies,
iced cup-cakes,
hair ribbons,
everything girlie, dreamy and pretty.
Yet this particular purple
proclaims
hope
it is a purple that causes us to stop in
wonder ...
it makes our adult brains ponder the possibility
of a whole purple foliage.
These purple blossoms arrest my attention;
transport me from my rat-race,
inspire poetry ...
If I pause long enough -
sit still
and breathe deeply ...
I will remember that
in each of us there is a touch
of divine royalty.
Follow the purple passage.
ThriveZim Education 