Casey O'Leary

I appreciated the reminder that you don't have to do everything perfectly when showing up to support someone in crisis. All you have to do is listen carefully and seek to understand where they are at and what they need. You also don't have to fix their crisis. 

It is a good reminder to shift my frame and check myself when my "Belief" about an adverse event might be leading to consequences I don't desire. I also appreciate the focus on the idea that energy itself is more important than hours worked. It is difficult to figure out how to put this into practice in places where folks are hourly employees. 

Some things on the list I was excited to see that I naturally feel drawn to employ. A few others are hard learnings for me. I recently have found myself treading the line of "complaining about the institution" because I don't have adequate facilities to give them proper hands-on training as a CTE course. But that can also be framed as a "real world problem" not just a complaint. We are under-resourced and that is a fact. It is OK to say that while having the institution's back. 

I like the suggestion to tally how often I engage with each student daily. That will help me connect with those who just take up less space in the class. I also have found angry students to be my most challenging and stressful students. I appreciated the suggestions to listen and take notes, and also to provide an opportunity for them to submit a written complaint. 

"All ambiguous behavior is interpreted as negative." I don't like this, but I can see how true it is! It's so hard to be ON all the time. It's disappointing that any little slip-up can have real negative impacts on student relations. 

What's in it for me? Remembering that that is a NATURAL instinct. They're not slacking by approaching their classes this way! 

It's interesting to consider the "stress list" and then consider ways of eliminating or reducing stress. I could see this creating a positive feedback loop where reducing more stressors can lead to innovative ideas for reducing others that didn't originally occur to you. Practice makes us better! 

I love the idea of a "stress list". My biggest workplace-related stressor is workplace related conflict. 

I learned that I have a lot of excellent strategies in place already! 

You are in control of your time, even when it can feel like students, coworkers, and/or administration are.