January 12, 2025 • 13 mins
Finding peace amidst chaos isn't about running away from challenges but navigating them with intention. By focusing on what you can control, creating small moments of calm, and reframing chaos as opportunities for growth, educators can maintain their wellbeing and effectiveness.
• Focusing on what you can control supports regaining peace amid chaos
• Creating micro moments of peace helps maintain balance during the day
• Reframing chaos leads to personal growth and learning opportunities
• Tips for morning reflection, pauses between tasks, and nighttime gratitude
• Investing in self-care is crucial for educators’ wellbeing and community strength
www.EdwardDeShazer.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Teachers Ed Podcast.
I'm your host, everett Shazer.
The Teachers Ed Podcast is theplace where the best and
brightest in education come tobe inspired, to connect, to
learn and to grow.
Today we are talking aboutsomething that every teacher has
faced at one time or another,and that is finding peace in the
(00:27):
midst of chaos.
Whether you are navigating newbeginnings, whether you are
dealing with unexpected changesor just trying to keep it all
together, peace can sometimesfeel out of reach.
Can sometimes feel out of reach.
(00:49):
But one thing I want us to knowtoday is peace is not about
eliminating chaos, but a lot oftimes it's about finding the
calm within it.
And in this episode, I willgive you three tips to help you
center yourself, help you regainfocus and help you embrace
peace even when life feelsoverwhelming.
And what teacher is not feelinglike life is overwhelming these
(01:11):
days?
Because being in education isjust overwhelming in general.
So let's dive right in thefirst one.
Tip number one is focusing onwhat you can control.
Yes, it is easier said thandone when life feels chaotic.
It's easy to get caught up ineverything that's outside of our
control, whether it's thatunexpected schedule change,
co-workers are missing from work, challenging student behavior
(01:35):
or school policies that you justdon't feel like are working for
you.
The key to finding peace isreally shifting your focus to
what you can control, and here'sa couple ways that you can
practice this.
Number one is create a controllist.
Take a few minutes.
Write down a list of what is in, what is within your power of
(01:57):
influence and what is not.
For example, you can't controlyour school's budget, but you
can control how you use theresources you have within your
classroom.
Number two we have to startsmall.
Once you've identified what youcan control, I want you to pick
.
One small action that you cantake today is rearranging your
(02:21):
lesson plan to better suit yourschedule, or maybe it's just
taking a few moments before adifficult conversation or a
difficult situation that you maybe going through.
And tip number three let go ofthe rest.
Or step number three is let goof the rest.
Practice accepting the thingsthat you can't change.
(02:44):
This does not mean you'regiving up.
It means acknowledging realityand choosing not to let reality
steal your peace.
So the reflective question thatI would have for you is what's
one thing in your life right nowthat is feeling overwhelming?
(03:04):
How can you shift your focus onthat one thing to what is in
your control, what's within yourcontrol.
So that's what I want you toreflect on right now and before
we move into the next tip, Iwant to remind you about the Be
Well Teacher Academy.
The Be Well Teacher Academy isyour space to recharge, connect
(03:25):
and find balance, even when lifefeels chaotic.
We have live events, there'sworkshops, there's courses,
there's lessons, but, mostimportantly, there's a
supportive community ofeducators who truly understand
your journey.
Our first live event is January26th, so it is coming up.
It is myself and three otherspeakers that are going to be
(03:49):
pouring into you guys for twohours.
It's a live event filled withstrategies for self-care,
strategies for balance.
You don't want to miss it, andit's free to the members of the
community.
The memberships are $7.99 amonth.
The first seven days are free.
Go to wwwbewellteachercomAlmost knocked my mic over
Register and learn more, and Iwant us to remember that peace
starts by investing in yourself.
(04:13):
Tip number two that we havetoday is create micro moments of
peace and, as you guys noticeover all of the episodes, I try
to give you small, actionablethings.
I think one of the biggestmistakes as educators that we
make is trying to make these big, massive changes.
And big change starts withsmall micro steps.
So peace doesn't have to bethis big, elusive thing that you
(04:37):
can only find on your two-weekvacation you just came off.
Sometimes it's about creatingsmall, intentional moments of
calm within your day.
Here's how you can build insome micro moments of peace in
your day.
Number one start your day withintention.
Before you check your phone ordive into all those to-do lists,
I want you to take a moment foryourself.
Just reflect, whether it's fiveminutes of journaling, deep
(04:59):
breathing, maybe it's justsitting in the peace and quiet
before the rest of the housegets up, or sipping your coffee.
Mindfully, starting your daywith calm will tend to set the
tone for everything else.
Number two is pausing betweentasks.
We get in this mode of justrushing, rushing, rushing.
We rush from one thing to thenext and I want us to just take
(05:20):
30 seconds of just rushing,rushing, rushing.
We rush from one thing to thenext and I want us to just take
30 seconds to just pause,breathe and reset.
These tiny breaks are very goodin helping stress to not build
up.
And number three this one is soimportant just ending your day
with gratitude.
Before you go to bed, I want youto reflect on one thing that
(05:41):
went well or something thatyou're grateful for.
It can help you shift yourfocus from the chaos to the good
.
And this is all just a mindshift.
You know, we can always thinkabout the crazy things that are
going on, the bad things goingon.
This person did that.
This happened at work, thishappened outside of work.
But before bed, just reflectingon one thing that went well.
A lot of times, that will helpyou sleep better, because when
(06:01):
we're thinking about thenegative things, we go to sleep.
Thinking about the negativethings, which oftentimes does
not allow us to go to sleep well, then we're stressed through
the night, we don't sleep well,then it starts that waterfall
cycle the next day.
So the reflective question Ihave for you today is what is
one micro moment of peace thatyou can create within your day?
Because even just 30 secondscan really make a difference in
(06:26):
how you feel when we're talkingabout taking micro moments and
creating those micro moments ofpeace.
Tip number three I want us toreframe chaos as growth, and
this one might soundcounterintuitive, but if you
(06:47):
looked at chaos as, not assomething to dread, but an
opportunity to grow.
When things feel out of control, it's often because we're
stepping into something new orbeing stretched in ways that are
going to help us evolve.
For all my folks that work out,if you walked into the gym and
(07:07):
say you were able to bench press30-pound weights, if you walked
in and 30-pound weights waseasy for you and you walked in
the gym every day and you'relike, no, I'm going to bench
press 10-pound weights and youdid 10 reps and you walk back
out, you're not going to seemuch change.
Muscles are just like our lives.
For us to grow, at times, wehave to put ourselves under
(07:31):
stress.
So, again, we're going to bereframing chaos as an
opportunity for growth.
So here's a couple ways thatyou can do that.
Number one is look for thelesson.
Ask yourself what is thissituation teaching me?
It could be patience, it couldbe adaptability, it could be
(07:52):
resistance, it could begratefulness.
You may be going throughsomething where someone broke in
your car and you lost your car,or you didn't lose your car,
but it's damaged, and then yourcar goes to shop for a few days
and you finally get your carback.
You're like, no, I'm gratefulfor the car.
I have the same car you werecomplaining about two weeks ago.
When you go without it forthree or four days, you're super
(08:13):
grateful for it.
So I want us to, as we'relooking to reframe chaos into
growth, look for the lessonamidst any problem that we're
going through.
Number two I want us to focus,and I've said this every week.
You're probably like man, youjust said this last week, but I
want us to focus on progress,not perfection.
Chaos can often feeloverwhelming because we think we
(08:34):
have to fix everythingimmediately Instead of focusing
on small steps forward.
I want us to just focus on andknow that growth isn't all about
getting it right.
It's about moving in the rightdirection.
There's a lot of people in thisworld that are moving fast, but
they're moving fast in thewrong direction.
So, growth, it is better to bemoving in the right direction at
(08:57):
a slow pace, with small steps,than it is to be moving fast in
the wrong direction.
And number three is I want youall to celebrate wins along the
way.
Even in chaos, there aremoments of success.
I want you to take a second torecognize them, take a second to
celebrate them, no matter howsmall they may seem Like.
You deserve to celebrate allthe great things that are going
(09:19):
on in your life, no matter howbig or no matter how small they
are.
The reflective question I havefor you, as we're talking about
that, is where in your life canyou shift your mindset to see
chaos as an opportunity forgrowth?
What is think back?
You know 2020 vision.
(09:40):
It's always easy, when you gothrough something down the road,
to be like why did I go throughthat?
And then you look back likethat's exactly why I went
through it.
I want you to think back.
Maybe it's recent, maybe it's alittle while ago.
Let's think back to 2024.
What is one lesson you learnedin 2024 from a challenging
situation?
I want you to think about oneof those challenging situations
(10:01):
that you went through and thenthink back.
What did I learn from that?
And we have to learn from thesethings.
We have to learn from everychallenging situation or we're
going through challenges forabsolutely no reason.
So, again, we are trying toreframe our chaos and reframe
our challenges as growth.
So the reflective question iswhat's one lesson that happened
in 2024 that you learned?
(10:21):
And it was a challenge and nowyou've grown from.
So I want you to think aboutthat, reflect on that and again,
as we get ready to wrap up, Iwant to remind you to join the
BOL Teacher Academy.
We have next week Saturday.
Saturday the 18th is one of ourfirst live events.
It is Saturday morning coffees,30-minute connection.
It's live, all the recordingsyou're able to view even if
(10:42):
you're not able to make it.
But again, it is free for thefirst seven days.
It is $7.99 per month.
You get access to all of ourevents for free.
I'm going to be bringing somesuper dynamic speakers to the
community.
You get the courses, you getthe lessons, you get the modules
, you get everything is includedfor $7.99 a month.
It is about the same.
You know all these inflation.
(11:02):
It's about the same cost as agrande Starbucks coffee and you
get all this information.
You get all these live events.
So I hope you joinwwwbewellteachercom.
Join today.
I hope you join.
I hope you join me next weekSaturday and then two Sundays
after that you join us for ourfirst big live mini summit
(11:23):
called Recharged.
We're having those once a month.
Saturday morning coffee is goingto be once or twice a month,
depending on the schedule, and Iwant us to remember, or first I
want to thank you for joining.
If you have not, I always askand I hope you've made it this
far please like, pleasesubscribe, please share with a
friend.
If you haven't and you followon Apple Podcasts or you're on
(11:44):
Spotify, please leave a review.
Let people know if you like it.
Hey, if you don't like it, letme know, because this is not for
me, this is for you.
That's why it's calledTeacher's Ed.
It ain't Ed's Ed, it'sTeacher's Ed.
So let me know what you like.
Let me know if there's otherthings that you want to hear
(12:09):
more of, things you want to hearless of.
I try to give you micro thingsthat we can take, actionable
things that we can take into thenext week.
But again, thank you forjoining me.
Finding peace in the midst ofchaos and new beginnings is not
about avoiding our challenges.
It's about navigating them withintention, with resilience and
with grace.
I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
(12:30):
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedcommunity.
I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedcommunity.
I want you to keep believing inyour students, keep believing
in your colleagues and, mostimportantly, keep believing in
yourself.
Until next time, stay inspired,stay connected and keep growing
.
Welcome to Teachers Ed Podcast.
I'm your host, everett Shazer.
The Teachers Ed Podcast is theplace where the best and
brightest in education come tobe inspired, to connect, to
learn and to grow.
Today we are talking aboutsomething that every teacher has
faced at one time or another,and that is finding peace in the
(00:27):
midst of chaos.
Whether you are navigating newbeginnings, whether you are
dealing with unexpected changesor just trying to keep it all
together, peace can sometimesfeel out of reach.
Can sometimes feel out of reach.
(00:49):
But one thing I want us to knowtoday is peace is not about
eliminating chaos, but a lot oftimes it's about finding the
calm within it.
And in this episode, I willgive you three tips to help you
center yourself, help you regainfocus and help you embrace
peace even when life feelsoverwhelming.
And what teacher is not feelinglike life is overwhelming these
(01:11):
days?
Because being in education isjust overwhelming in general.
So let's dive right in thefirst one.
Tip number one is focusing onwhat you can control.
Yes, it is easier said thandone when life feels chaotic.
It's easy to get caught up ineverything that's outside of our
control, whether it's thatunexpected schedule change,
co-workers are missing from work, challenging student behavior
(01:35):
or school policies that you justdon't feel like are working for
you.
The key to finding peace isreally shifting your focus to
what you can control, and here'sa couple ways that you can
practice this.
Number one is create a controllist.
Take a few minutes.
Write down a list of what is in, what is within your power of
(01:57):
influence and what is not.
For example, you can't controlyour school's budget, but you
can control how you use theresources you have within your
classroom.
Number two we have to startsmall.
Once you've identified what youcan control, I want you to pick
.
One small action that you cantake today is rearranging your
(02:21):
lesson plan to better suit yourschedule, or maybe it's just
taking a few moments before adifficult conversation or a
difficult situation that you maybe going through.
And tip number three let go ofthe rest.
Or step number three is let goof the rest.
Practice accepting the thingsthat you can't change.
(02:44):
This does not mean you'regiving up.
It means acknowledging realityand choosing not to let reality
steal your peace.
So the reflective question thatI would have for you is what's
one thing in your life right nowthat is feeling overwhelming?
(03:04):
How can you shift your focus onthat one thing to what is in
your control, what's within yourcontrol.
So that's what I want you toreflect on right now and before
we move into the next tip, Iwant to remind you about the Be
Well Teacher Academy.
The Be Well Teacher Academy isyour space to recharge, connect
(03:25):
and find balance, even when lifefeels chaotic.
We have live events, there'sworkshops, there's courses,
there's lessons, but, mostimportantly, there's a
supportive community ofeducators who truly understand
your journey.
Our first live event is January26th, so it is coming up.
It is myself and three otherspeakers that are going to be
(03:49):
pouring into you guys for twohours.
It's a live event filled withstrategies for self-care,
strategies for balance.
You don't want to miss it, andit's free to the members of the
community.
The memberships are $7.99 amonth.
The first seven days are free.
Go to wwwbewellteachercomAlmost knocked my mic over
Register and learn more, and Iwant us to remember that peace
starts by investing in yourself.
(04:13):
Tip number two that we havetoday is create micro moments of
peace and, as you guys noticeover all of the episodes, I try
to give you small, actionablethings.
I think one of the biggestmistakes as educators that we
make is trying to make these big, massive changes.
And big change starts withsmall micro steps.
So peace doesn't have to bethis big, elusive thing that you
(04:37):
can only find on your two-weekvacation you just came off.
Sometimes it's about creatingsmall, intentional moments of
calm within your day.
Here's how you can build insome micro moments of peace in
your day.
Number one start your day withintention.
Before you check your phone ordive into all those to-do lists,
I want you to take a moment foryourself.
Just reflect, whether it's fiveminutes of journaling, deep
(04:59):
breathing, maybe it's justsitting in the peace and quiet
before the rest of the housegets up, or sipping your coffee.
Mindfully, starting your daywith calm will tend to set the
tone for everything else.
Number two is pausing betweentasks.
We get in this mode of justrushing, rushing, rushing.
We rush from one thing to thenext and I want us to just take
(05:20):
30 seconds of just rushing,rushing, rushing.
We rush from one thing to thenext and I want us to just take
30 seconds to just pause,breathe and reset.
These tiny breaks are very goodin helping stress to not build
up.
And number three this one is soimportant just ending your day
with gratitude.
Before you go to bed, I want youto reflect on one thing that
(05:41):
went well or something thatyou're grateful for.
It can help you shift yourfocus from the chaos to the good
.
And this is all just a mindshift.
You know, we can always thinkabout the crazy things that are
going on, the bad things goingon.
This person did that.
This happened at work, thishappened outside of work.
But before bed, just reflectingon one thing that went well.
A lot of times, that will helpyou sleep better, because when
(06:01):
we're thinking about thenegative things, we go to sleep.
Thinking about the negativethings, which oftentimes does
not allow us to go to sleep well, then we're stressed through
the night, we don't sleep well,then it starts that waterfall
cycle the next day.
So the reflective question Ihave for you today is what is
one micro moment of peace thatyou can create within your day?
Because even just 30 secondscan really make a difference in
(06:26):
how you feel when we're talkingabout taking micro moments and
creating those micro moments ofpeace.
Tip number three I want us toreframe chaos as growth, and
this one might soundcounterintuitive, but if you
(06:47):
looked at chaos as, not assomething to dread, but an
opportunity to grow.
When things feel out of control, it's often because we're
stepping into something new orbeing stretched in ways that are
going to help us evolve.
For all my folks that work out,if you walked into the gym and
(07:07):
say you were able to bench press30-pound weights, if you walked
in and 30-pound weights waseasy for you and you walked in
the gym every day and you'relike, no, I'm going to bench
press 10-pound weights and youdid 10 reps and you walk back
out, you're not going to seemuch change.
Muscles are just like our lives.
For us to grow, at times, wehave to put ourselves under
(07:31):
stress.
So, again, we're going to bereframing chaos as an
opportunity for growth.
So here's a couple ways thatyou can do that.
Number one is look for thelesson.
Ask yourself what is thissituation teaching me?
It could be patience, it couldbe adaptability, it could be
(07:52):
resistance, it could begratefulness.
You may be going throughsomething where someone broke in
your car and you lost your car,or you didn't lose your car,
but it's damaged, and then yourcar goes to shop for a few days
and you finally get your carback.
You're like, no, I'm gratefulfor the car.
I have the same car you werecomplaining about two weeks ago.
When you go without it forthree or four days, you're super
(08:13):
grateful for it.
So I want us to, as we'relooking to reframe chaos into
growth, look for the lessonamidst any problem that we're
going through.
Number two I want us to focus,and I've said this every week.
You're probably like man, youjust said this last week, but I
want us to focus on progress,not perfection.
Chaos can often feeloverwhelming because we think we
(08:34):
have to fix everythingimmediately Instead of focusing
on small steps forward.
I want us to just focus on andknow that growth isn't all about
getting it right.
It's about moving in the rightdirection.
There's a lot of people in thisworld that are moving fast, but
they're moving fast in thewrong direction.
So, growth, it is better to bemoving in the right direction at
(08:57):
a slow pace, with small steps,than it is to be moving fast in
the wrong direction.
And number three is I want youall to celebrate wins along the
way.
Even in chaos, there aremoments of success.
I want you to take a second torecognize them, take a second to
celebrate them, no matter howsmall they may seem Like.
You deserve to celebrate allthe great things that are going
(09:19):
on in your life, no matter howbig or no matter how small they
are.
The reflective question I havefor you, as we're talking about
that, is where in your life canyou shift your mindset to see
chaos as an opportunity forgrowth?
What is think back?
You know 2020 vision.
(09:40):
It's always easy, when you gothrough something down the road,
to be like why did I go throughthat?
And then you look back likethat's exactly why I went
through it.
I want you to think back.
Maybe it's recent, maybe it's alittle while ago.
Let's think back to 2024.
What is one lesson you learnedin 2024 from a challenging
situation?
I want you to think about oneof those challenging situations
(10:01):
that you went through and thenthink back.
What did I learn from that?
And we have to learn from thesethings.
We have to learn from everychallenging situation or we're
going through challenges forabsolutely no reason.
So, again, we are trying toreframe our chaos and reframe
our challenges as growth.
So the reflective question iswhat's one lesson that happened
in 2024 that you learned?
(10:21):
And it was a challenge and nowyou've grown from.
So I want you to think aboutthat, reflect on that and again,
as we get ready to wrap up, Iwant to remind you to join the
BOL Teacher Academy.
We have next week Saturday.
Saturday the 18th is one of ourfirst live events.
It is Saturday morning coffees,30-minute connection.
It's live, all the recordingsyou're able to view even if
(10:42):
you're not able to make it.
But again, it is free for thefirst seven days.
It is $7.99 per month.
You get access to all of ourevents for free.
I'm going to be bringing somesuper dynamic speakers to the
community.
You get the courses, you getthe lessons, you get the modules
, you get everything is includedfor $7.99 a month.
It is about the same.
You know all these inflation.
(11:02):
It's about the same cost as agrande Starbucks coffee and you
get all this information.
You get all these live events.
So I hope you joinwwwbewellteachercom.
Join today.
I hope you join.
I hope you join me next weekSaturday and then two Sundays
after that you join us for ourfirst big live mini summit
(11:23):
called Recharged.
We're having those once a month.
Saturday morning coffee is goingto be once or twice a month,
depending on the schedule, and Iwant us to remember, or first I
want to thank you for joining.
If you have not, I always askand I hope you've made it this
far please like, pleasesubscribe, please share with a
friend.
If you haven't and you followon Apple Podcasts or you're on
(11:44):
Spotify, please leave a review.
Let people know if you like it.
Hey, if you don't like it, letme know, because this is not for
me, this is for you.
That's why it's calledTeacher's Ed.
It ain't Ed's Ed, it'sTeacher's Ed.
So let me know what you like.
Let me know if there's otherthings that you want to hear
(12:09):
more of, things you want to hearless of.
I try to give you micro thingsthat we can take, actionable
things that we can take into thenext week.
But again, thank you forjoining me.
Finding peace in the midst ofchaos and new beginnings is not
about avoiding our challenges.
It's about navigating them withintention, with resilience and
with grace.
I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
(12:30):
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedcommunity.
I want you to remember thatwhen you take care of yourself
and you take care of thosearound you, you are building a
stronger and more connectedcommunity.
I want you to keep believing inyour students, keep believing
in your colleagues and, mostimportantly, keep believing in
yourself.
Until next time, stay inspired,stay connected and keep growing
.
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