Reflecting on pace for this season....
The new school year is palpable. It’s in the air. It’s in my inbox. It’s everywhere. It demands my attention and it wants it now. In a webinar conversation I got to hear Dr. Jamila Lyiscott say, “Grind culture is white supremacy with another name”. This thought have stayed with me as I continue to unpack it’s multilayered meaning. Here’s the thing. Society loves to tells us that we need to “hustle”, that our worth lies in our productivity. How I feel at the end of the day is equated with how much I get to cross off from my to-do list. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love lists. I love journals. I love planners. I’m also at an age that trying to remember every detail is just not going to work. So I write things down constantly. This month I’m foreseeing a lot of list-writing. And I’m also carving space and intentionality in the ways I move, think, process and reflect because as Dr. Lyiscott reminds me, “what is aligned, will always come to sustain us.”
Sustainability.
That’s a powerful word for all us educators. It has never been more crucial.
I’m channeling Dr. Lyiscott’s wisdom to help me set my pace for this new season. I thrive when I’m in alignment. I thrive when I do the opposite of grind culture, that is, when I take my time to observe and listen with grace. As I think about what has sustained me as an educator for the last 21 years, I believe that observing and listening before I speak, before I act and make decisions, have served me well.
Listening allows me to be in community and seek understanding in this shared moment and space. Listening has humbled me in helping me comprehend that there is more than one way to be and to learn in this world.
When I observe, I let my brain and my heart to speak to each other before I speak my words aloud. it allows me to move with intentionality and unhurried. I’m decolonizing myself when I decide to take a step back and let the current reality develop, unfold, take its own shape. Listening and observing is not to be misunderstood with inaction. On the contrary, deliverable actions occurs because I decided to focus with what’s in front of me.
As I reflect on pace for this season, I choose to listen and observe first. I chose to reflect and act accordingly. Grind culture will demand that I act fast every single opportunity. And there will be moments where that acting fast will serve us well. For sure. But I’m also reminding myself that when it comes to teaching and learning, I need to ask myself, “does this serve this student well?” if it does, let’s roll up our sleeves and deliver for this student.
What is your pace for this season? What will sustain your mental, emotional and physical help?
P.S I’m working on my playlist for the new school year and you know Selena (Bidi Bidi Bom Bom) is in that list. It brings me joy. It grounds me. So it’s coming with me to this school year. What’s in your playlist?
