What quotes or phrases resonate the most with you? The start of a new year is a good time to reflect on these encouraging words, and the helpful practice of regularly reviewing these words in the days ahead.
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Transcript
Hey everyone, welcome to another week of the Encouraging Words for School Counselors podcast, and depending on where you’re listening to this, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, or just happy ‘it’s good to have time off from work’ day. I’m Matt Fleck with Inspire Success.
Since this is holiday break for all of us, including me, we’re going to keep this week’s podcast mercifully short.
What we had planned to focus on for this first podcast of 2022 was school counselors’ favorite quotes and inspiring messages. But there are SO many good quotes out there that it seems a bit unfair to share OUR favorites. Plus, you can find SO many creative and helpful quotes posted every day on Instagram from fellow school counselors. We follow “katiescounselingcloset,” “counselingwithmrb” and many others, and probably you do too. It’s easy enough to do and of course there are myriad of phone apps that will send you a quote of the day. I encourage you to check them out in the new year and save the two or three quotes that resonate the most with you so you can have it whenever you need it.
I did this practice over the last year and I have to say the quotes that I saved, that stood out for me the most, were those that helped me remember where I was or where I am, what I’m doing and what my broad purpose is.
They’re the quotes that are ESPECIALLY helpful when a parent jumps down your throat or a student cusses you out in the hallway or disrupts your classroom lessons. Going back to one or two of your favorite quotes can help you recenter yourself, like a personal GPS.
I shared ONE of those helpful quotes of mine last week from EB White but there are a couple of others that I have found especially helpful. One, paraphrased from George Eliot, says, “What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for others?” which is a quote that reminds me that we don’t have to be superstars or win any awards to be helpful to others. It’s often the simple things, and purpose enough to just try and make someone’s life a little less difficult.
The last quote I’ll share is an old one from John Wesley that comes in many forms, but the version I can remember by heart is “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, for all the people you can, for as long as you can.” Is it earth shattering or life changing? Not necessarily but quotes like these and many others can help us change our perspective about what’s going on in our day and help us appreciate the good work that all of us do.
So with that – cheers to a bright new calendar year – and more encouraging words in 2022.