GET IN THE BOAT!

Hello brave friend!

Wow! We’re in February and I don’t know about you, but I am feeling the weight of winter! For me, this time of year is almost always when I feel super low energy and I just want to hibernate! I know I am not alone in this feeling as I hear it from so many others! In fact, I am hearing A LOT about feelings of exhaustion, overwhelm and how it can sometimes lead to desperation.

Over the past month, I have spent a lot of time with educators who are expressing a deep and profound sense of ‘too-much-ness’. I tried to find the right word to describe what I am hearing… but most fell short. It’s an all encompassing sense of exhaustion, overwhelm, frustration, mixed with the will to put your head down, shut everything out and try to survive… while also being completely over it. It all just feels like too much. 

One educator said to me, “We’ve been on the Titanic and now we’re flailing in the water trying to hold on… calling for the life boats, but they aren’t coming back.” 

GAH!! What a horrible feeling. I know not everyone is at this level of crisis, so if you are I hear you! If you’re not… you can certainly relate.

AND YET….

And yet, I am going to challenge the notion that the lifeboats aren’t coming back. When I hear this, I hear that some people are feeling alone, that they are feeling abandoned or that their struggle isn’t being seen. If you feel this way, it can be profoundly lonely. And yet… you are not alone. You are not helpless. You are not invisible. 

As the captain of one of those lifeboats, someone who is here every day offering support, throwing the proverbial floatation device into the water, I see far too many people turning away from the support they are gasping for. Sometimes we get so lost in treading water, we don’t realize help is right by our side!

Lately, this has looked like, “I don’t have time for help.”, which absolutely baffles me. It’s as if you are surrounded by lifeboats but can’t stop flailing to climb in. This seems like an obvious route toward drowning. 

I work with school districts all over New England and offer regular wellness workshops focused on the specific needs of educators that are FREE… and yet few (if any) attend. Schools bring me in to offer one-on-one coaching and counseling… and only a handful of people take advantage of the support. I offer online, in person and digital sessions… So, where is everyone?

What support is around you that you are choosing to decline? Where might you find solace, yet turn it down. No matter the reason, whether you think there isn’t time, or you don’t want to bother anyone… or think it wont help, are you resisting help that is actually right there?

Ok, ok.. I’m getting to the Mindful Mini invitation… LOOK AROUND! The lifeboats came back! You are surrounded by floatation devices! But, you have to grab on! You have to climb in! You have to accept the support… even if it isn’t exactly what you want it to be! It is unlikely that the challenges you are facing will politely go away. Yet the support you need to face them is HERE. Resist the temptation to push away support because you want what causes the struggle to surrender. That is not what support looks like. You need to CHOOSE YOU and climb in the boat! Align your choices with your values and set boundaries with your time that allows you to accept the support you have waiting. CLIMB IN THE BOAT. Stop struggling in the water and allow yourself to be supported… say yes and choose you! Choose the support you deserve because you are so worth it!

Yours in heart,

Kelly Driscoll