Time to Reflect
Do you take a moment to reflect on where you’re going and what’s important to you? Do you stop and ask yourself whether the direction that you are going, is actually the direction you want to go?
I have a few different hidey spots where I take time to stop and reflect. I love spending time in my local parks out of the house but today I’m in one of my local libraries because it is warm and because my family are home. If I was at home, I wouldn’t be getting much done. I find I need time to reflect – I can’t do it on the run – and now is the perfect time for me because, you guessed it, it is the school holidays.
Reflecting on the first term (or quarter) is like checking my map and getting my bearings again, especially after the last few weeks of the term. These weeks often descend into some sort of chaos, craziness and extreme tiredness as assessments and end-of-term reports take precedence with my time and attention. This term the weather began to change as we head towards winter, the days got darker and my students also became tired.
So now is the time to pause and look around.
In reflecting on what worked and what didn’t last term, I’ve decided that I need to work towards completing my copyediting course as soon as possible. It’s boring but I paid for it. I also need to work towards completing the photography course that I bought. This one I love but maybe because it is creative, I haven’t been spending the time on it that I need to complete it. I love this one and also, I paid for it.
These two courses are in the areas where I want to continue to grow and develop my business. Recently, I helped a close relative pull together a job application. She managed to get an interview. While she is still waiting to hear back from them, I am thrilled for her. It also reinforced to me, that I have strengths in copyediting and proofreading that other people need and they are something that I can offer to others.
So, in order to complete these two courses as quickly as I can, I will be reducing the frequency of my blogs and book reviews at least for the short term. I will also be cutting back on the time I spend developing resources for Sarah’s EAL Corner in the 3321teach.com.au store. By reducing the scale and frequency of these two things, I will gain more time to complete my courses. I just need to hurry up and get them done so I can be open to new and more things after that.
The rest of the day is mine. I am hoping it warms up a little so that I can go to the park. And if it doesn’t warm up, I shall spend some more time planning, plotting, and scheming in a place that is warm. I might make a few phone calls and then again, I might not. It is the holidays after all and I have learnt that all the important things tend to get done in the end.
Do you spend time reflecting? When and where do you do this? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to connect.
