Yeah, it’s not Friday, I know.  Who knows, maybe there will be TWO of these things put out! 🙂

I had a blog started about being positive in the face of a lot of negative stuff.  It’s been a hard year, period.  I’ve complained enough about it, but it’s been rough.  I was in the process of writing about this, but had an opportunity.  I had a chance to have a Google Hangout with an edtech company and offer my input on a product they are developing.

What?  You aren’t that kind of a person, you are “just” a teacher.

I thought the same thing.  I’m a sixth grade teacher, why would my opinion matter in the least to a company who’s putting together a great product?  And I’m not sure if my comments made much of a difference one way or another, but you know what?  If felt good to be asked.  It felt good that I had a chance to see some of the awesome people of this company, people I’ve interacted with via Twitter.  Honestly, this was a pretty big step outside of my own comfort zone because I’m painfully shy in new situations.  This went surprisingly well (as nervous as I was) and hopefully, I offered up something of use.  Even if I didn’t, it’s a validation that yes, a teacher’s voice is important.

My other nudge came from my basketball girls.  We played Tuesday night and I’d planned on just canceling practice tonight as they have a middle school music concert.  If you know middle school girls, they get all dressed up and having two daughters of my own, I know this takes a while!  After the game, I said we’d probably cancel practice and they suggested a 6:30AM practice.

What? Middle schoolers WANTING to get up early to come to practice?  Where’s the candid camera at?? 🙂

This was a decision made much later than I’d usually make it, so I made this an optional practice.  If you couldn’t get a ride or couldn’t make it down to the middle school, no problem.  I figured I’d get 10 girls, a respectable number.  I ended up with 16 out of 19 who showed up!  Wow!  Just when I think this group can’t surprise me, they do something like this.  And the best part came after practice.  I bring chocolate milk and juice, and the last two times I’ve brought cinnamon rolls too, just because I like to take care of my team that way.  This year has been different because this is the first time in six years I’m not coaching one of my daughters, and while I’ve had some of these girls in class, it’s been three years ago.  They’ve not been stand-offish, just not really open.  Today, as we ate, I felt that openness starting to appear.  Girls were joking with each other, giving me grief about orange juice of all this, but really starting to feel like a family, not just a team.  That’s the kind of atmosphere I’m used to and it was a good to see that starting to happen.  Of course, in another month, we’ll be done, but hey, the small things are good.

What does all this mean?  Life isn’t as bad as I think it is and there are so many positives around me.  Sometimes, I just need to wallow in my own self-pity, but yet, look around and pay attention to all the good that people bring each and every day.  You can never predict where those little nudges of positive energy are going to come from, only that they will certainly be there when you least expect them.

So my happy thought for the day: unexpected nudges.  Be aware that we can’t be positive all the time, but we can continue to seek out those positive things that make us who we are.