Happy March you beautiful people! Here is what I am wondering:
If I were to write a New York Times #1 bestselling book, what do you think I should write about?
Have an epic Wednesday and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Category Archives: Wordsmith
Be Radically Healing your Roots
As I wander through this season and through my days I see and feel roots everywhere.
I look at a tree, I can imagine its strong, gnarly roots spreading underneath the ground beneath me.
I pull out a sunflower plant, I can see its tangled, frail roots flowing freely from the bottom stem.
I find out about anger, shame, guilt, deep depression and can see the loneliness, brokenness and shattered roots within.
I know these roots.
They were my roots.
I was never enough.
I could never do enough.
(Anyone see the reason for the title of this blog?)
I never felt enough.
Oh man, was I angry.
I was missing whole days in darkness.
I was surrounded by love, yet feeling so alone.
What did I do my friends?
How could one possibly change roots?
Deep down, buried, from your DNA and how you were created: Roots!
How are those possible to change?
Something happened FOR me.
Yup, not TO me.
FIRST, I took 100% responsibility for what was happening around me, not because I was responsible for everything, but because I was responsible to acknowledge and choose how I was going to respond.
I realized I am a powerful person who has the power to choose my actions, who I surround myself with and how I choose to react to what’s happening to me.
Simple, yet means you need to be awake.
NEXT, I started looking at the negative emotions that constantly swirled inside of me. Those emotions that have just become a habit. A superhighway in my brain that would only take one word or even one “tone of voice” to send me speeding down into a three car mental pileup down the other end. I saw that the negative emotions were happening in only certain situations and with certain people. Most of my negative emotions were linked to my expectations I was placing on the people closest to me and my inability to simply feel good about anything I was doing.
Anger.
Shame.
Guilt.
Depression.
Yup, I was rocking them all, down Highway 97. Up and down, all day long. Even when I didn’t want to take the road trip. Suddenly, I would spiral down into the pileup.
NEXT, after I acknowledge where I was at, took a close look at the metaphorical branches, leaves and fruit that I had created in my life, I looked down into my roots.
What was brewing below these loud and proud negative emotions?
What did I really need to look at within myself?
What had I taken from my family of origin that no longer served me?
And glory to God alone, it became clear.
I was led to the Gottman Institute and this photo. 
When I was feeling angry, I was actually feeling something deep in my roots, which for me was actually shame.
I was feeling cornered.
Pressured.
Almost like I was being thrown off a boat.
Alone.
Helpless and scared.
Alone.
Misunderstood.
Trapped and not knowing what to do.
Alone.
My negative emotions that were speedy down that superhighway were speeding down a track that had nothing to do with where I want to go.
They were old roots.
Old stuff.
LASTLY, all I simply did to stop these mental car crashes was by creating new stuff.
I created a vision for the road that I wanted to go along.
I allowed myself to see and feel the negative emotions, but I didn’t stop there.
I looked at the roots, shook them out and started creating new habits, new patterns to grow some stronger, more positive and healthy roots. I started hanging out more with people doing the same thing, or slightly ahead of me on their root growing. I held myself to these new habits and kept a standard for myself.
These negative roots were going to whither and die.
I had made a decision to upgrade my root system.
New habits.
New patterns.
Growing with others.
New standards.
Healthy roots.
Healthier Joanna.
Have an epic Thursday and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Be Having No Time
I don’t have time to talk about you because if you are an important person in my life I am talking TO you.
I don’t have time to worry about if you have lost or gained weight, I am 100% focused on my own health.
I don’t have time to ponder what you are doing with your life, but I am praying that you would have a life filled with love, joy and peace.
I don’t have time to wonder why you left my life and want nothing to do with me as I am completely enveloped with love by the people who choose to spend time with me.
I don’t have any time to think about who you love or want to marry, I am focused on making my own relationships better.
I don’t have time to wonder why my family of origin has fallen far apart since my mom died. The rich relationships that have filled this Grand Canyon gap from my mom’s death and the ‘chosen family’ who shower us with encouragement are greater than any gift I could imagine.
I don’t have time to judge what you do with your money, your time or your relationships because God is showing me all the good He is doing through knowing you.
I don’t have time. I don’t believe in busy. I don’t believe in missing anyone.
I create time.
Busy is a swear word.
If I miss you, I reach out to you. The only people I miss are dead. They definitely don’t have any time.
Make time for what’s important to you folks.
Have an epic Monday and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Be Getting The People You Work With Out of the Bedroom
Paint a picture in your mind of every single person you know connected to you through a rectangular gadget. Yes, that gadget that you are probably holding in your hand right now. Picture every human being that is attached to you in some way through your phone.
Intertwined.
Emotionally and spiritually connected.
Through a rectangular gadget.
Our phones.
Let’s great really specific and think about that smelly, high-pitched laugh colleague at work that you may not love that is affixed to you through your work email.
Visualize taking that person with you into bed or even sitting beside you on your night table via your phone. Do you see them?
Picture every single one of your Facebook friends’ faces staring at you as you lie in bed.
Envision every person in your contacts list wanting to connect with you about their stuff, their feelings and their lives as you lie your head down on your pillow at night.
Imagine all those people’s hands reaching out to touch you as you fall asleep.
Feeling overwhelmed with all these “connections” and faces staring at you?
NOW GET THAT PHONE OUT OF YOUR BEDROOM!
Get a good old fashioned plug-in the wall alarm clock.
Charge your phone in the bathroom.
Better yet, charge it in the kitchen or the hallway.
Just leave all those people, those tethers and those beeping and booping noises from that rectangular gadget out of your bedroom.
Because Sexy Neck works with partners all over the world, his phone used to light up like a Christmas tree all hours of the night and wake me up multiple times as the emails, texts and WhatsApp messages came in.
We have been charging our phones in the bathrooms for the last month and guess what, we haven’t missed a single thing.
Not one single thing!
I am so grateful for this new habit and I am never going to bring the outside world into the bedroom again.
Be free.
Be really free.
Let me know if you decide to give this try.
Sleep well my friends and love what you do!
xoxo Joanna
Be Finding Your Dream Job (A letter to my boys)
To my Blue Crew,
I want to write this letter to each of you after a few years of working in my “dream job” as an online teacher as I know you have watched what has unfolded for me as a mom and teacher.
Right now you want to be a movie producer, a truck driver/inventor and a RCMP Member or Conservation Officer in the K9 unit. I am so excited to see what unfolds for you hardworking, heartfelt human beings.
My dream job involves working with and inspiring other human beings, particularly young people starting with EACH of you three boys. From teaching my first amazing job in Cherryville to teaching in Switzerland to working in the online system, my career journey has been an interesting one. How did I find all my dream jobs for each season of my life?
First and foremost, I wanted to find a job that I could work around you and daddy’s schedule. Someone had to “hold down the fort”.
Second, I wanted to work within my passions of learning and growth.
Lastly, I wanted to ensure that the exchange for my time, which is our greatest currency, was in balance with the money that the job was going to pay me.
Family first.
Life long learner.
Time for money.
What will be important for your dream job? The clearer you are, the quicker the job will come. It was only after you were born and I stepped away from the education system that my journey towards my dream job began.
Family first.
Life long learner.
Time for money.
As with any dream job, there is always, always some friction involved. The friction or “emotional heat” can be caused by a colleague that you work with, by one task that you don’t particularly like or even how your mind can’t settle down after your work day ends. For every job the friction created is different and you will have to make a conscious decision if these “rubs” are worth it to pursue and go after your dream job.
Go boys.
Find your dream job.
Be aware of the friction.
And have as MUCH FUN as I am in my job.
God bless everyone that reads this blog post and especially bless our growing boys: 15, 13 and 11 year old young men.
Have an epic Wednesday folks and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Be Changing Your Career in an Exorbitant Way
Hi Mom’s and Dad’s that have chosen to give up or change their careers because a wee one came into your life, I am sitting with you as I write this. Grab a cup of tea and strap yourselves in… I have a major wondering today.
Do you ever have a sense that your career changed in an exorbitant way because of your wee ones arrival on earth?
I have been thinking about my time on earth and my career a lot lately as I continue working through the gift of grief that my mom gave me in 2013. Yup, almost 10 years since that fateful day that our Super Nana died and I began my personal journey experiencing the finality of death.
With incredible clarity, I took leave from my career when our oldest came into the world almost sixteen years ago. I was a teacher, coach, volunteer and an advocate of campus education, but when that blonde haired boy with that straight edge part and blue eyes came into the world, my life pivoted and my career path changed forever. I never stepped back into a campus classroom full time and I have never wanted to. I am proud of the fact that I could help keep things simple in our family’s life by being the person “on the home front”. I never wanted someone else to raise my children or see their “firsts” or major milestones. I wanted to be the person to spend the most amount of time each day with them. We are only give twenty-four hours in each day. Those first few years on one income as we added wee one #2 and #3 were years of focus and frugalness, but our family never did without. We went down to one car, bought a home with a suite, took in international students, cut cable and reduced our expenses, by as much as possible, through figuring out what our needs versus wants were.
As the kids grew older, I took forays into selling Hawaiian Green tea directly to customers, ventured into Referral Marketing of health products, worked as an online teacher at a Vancouver-based school and even worked in my dream job as a part time Physical Education Teacher at an elementary school. This is what I wanted to share about today and is the reason I decided to write this blog post . This P.E. teaching job was absolutely perfect for me. I worked a half day Monday and full days Tuesday and Wednesday. I had the gym doors open every single day at lunch for the students. I felt that I could be creative in the physical literacies that I taught and truly impact the school as a whole in terms of health and wellness. I had personal time to train for and race small triathlons on the weekends. PLUS, I could be there for my own blue crew on the four days I wasn’t working as well as not work momentously long days doing prep for my teaching job. BUT, the boys didn’t enjoy getting themselves to and from their own campus school in grades 1, 3 and 5. They began fighting a lot and being unkind to each other on a level that reminded me of growing up when my mom went back to teaching when I was in grade 1. My dream job was no longer my dream job as I left to work with upset kids at 7:45am or came home to chaos at 4:00pm. Due to my family of origin and sibling experience, I have a very low tolerance for my boys treating each other like a-holes just because they are related. The dream career came to a clear closure.
I changed my career in an exorbitant manner yet again. I said no to a returning contract as a Physical Education teacher and came back home full time for the next few years. During 2020, I was drawn back to work as an online teacher again at a new K-city based private school, which I love, but isn’t without some friction within my family.
During this winter season, I have often wondered, what would I be doing if I hadn’t changed my career in such drastic ways. What would my days look like? Where would we be living? Who would I be surrounded by? I am not sure if any other mom’s or dad’s can relate, but I sometimes wonder if I have given up too much. This life I lead working from home is often lonely, isolated and takes a lot of personal motivation/momentum as I don’t walk the halls or share daily energy with any colleagues anymore. I have always had big dreams, an ever growing thought life and a vision of making a major, positive impact on the world around me. By keeping my vision narrow and focused on my family, perhaps I have lost the bigger picture of my life.
Career change
On top of more career change.
With three children.
Narrow focus.
Big picture.
Exorbitant.
Or not?
I am not sure.
Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Be a Great Pyrenees (Post about Friendships)
As a dog, I would previously have been seen as a fluffy, golden retriever.
I love human beings and can talk to anyone, anywhere. I have made friends after a 4 hour plane trip and even made a lifelong friend in a checkout line in Nashville. She complimented me on my shoes. We stayed in contact and then I ended up finding her the same pair of shoes and sent them to her.
My boys often ask me to stop “chitty chatting”!
I might be weird as I will talk to anyone, but I won’t be someone’s friend just because our kids do the same activities , our kids are the same age, we teach in the same profession or we live on the same street.
I love every ONE, but my friends are people who are authentic, straightforward, family-oriented and passionate.
These last three years as I grew through deep loneliness and even discrimination as I wouldn’t share or talk about the greatest science experiment our generation has gone through. My golden retriever spirit died. I have happily morphed into the ever-watching guardian dog, the Great Pyrenees.
I still see you, but I am not going to chase you to hangout with you.
Watching.
Looking for what will happen next, but not engaging.
Watching.
Waiting to see who will “see” me back.
Watching.
I have gotten more mellow, more calm and more still.
Moving from an every chasing Golden Retriever to a watchful Great Pyrenees shifts things up in the friendship realm and many of my friendships fell away in the last three years.
I guess when you are doing a lot of chasing, you can think you have lots of friends, but it is truly the friends that will stand with you in the calm and the storms as a Great Pyrenees that are here to stay.
Thank you to my salt of the earth friends from the past and those to come in the future. I love you and I send you a big virtual lick!
Have an epic Friday folks and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
Be Saying Goodbye to Home Visit + Report Card Writing Season (2023)
When I worked in the classroom in the campus setting as a teacher, I always felt this sense of angst that I wasn’t spending time or even had enough time to get to know all students equally. I felt like I was NEVER enough.
In the campus system, almost 95% of my time was often spent with 5% of the students.
Sad, but true.
BUT, I came up with a system to at least waylay my own personal angst. For each day of the week, I would focus on 6 of my students and genuinely asking them questions and talk with them. The chat would have been a few minutes to 5 minutes with each of these six students, but I felt closer to my goal of truly “knowing” my students. 5 days per week times 6 students = 30 students in my class. BUT, I was only spending about 5 minutes consistently, authentically communicating with each student each week.
Sad, but true.
As an online teacher with the school that I have a contract with, I am asked to do 3 home visits throughout the year. I also will Zoom with families a few times, on top of these home visits, to stay connected and in tune with any “successes to build on” or “struggles to shift through”.
As of Tuesday, I completed writing report cards after meeting with my eighteen families (39 students in total) between Kamloops and Oliver, British Columbia, plus many towns and cities in between. The total distance between Kamloops to Oliver is around 275 kilometres (170 miles). In the last few months, I spent about forty hours in my car plus over forty-five hours then writing report cards.
Not ideal, but worth every second.
At these home visits, students will read with me, show me work they are proud of and we will talk about math. I will go over their personal goals that we set for the year in September. (This is ALL on top of the weekly/biweekly learning samples they share throughout the year via the sharing platform, Seesaw.) I meet puppies, listen to piano, play basketball, have tea parties with homemade cakes, play Lego/blocks, cook, make crafts and I even paint with some students at their homes.
Overjoyed and true.
I spend HOURS upon HOURS with my students and their families throughout the year. I am privileged to be invited into peoples homes to see “behind the scenes” of the learning that is taking place. It is within this family unit that I am truly given a picture of what learning is like for the student: How they fit within their sibling unit, how their parents work with them and even how things are set up in the home, are all important for learning about how our children learn (in the online world and the campus education system).
Overjoyed and true.
Sometimes people wonder why I have chosen this path for my teaching career and how I can work with so many students.
First, I truly feel like I can help inspire and support my students because I have time to sit with them, listen to them and learn from them.
Second, I really get to “know” my students, which was never possible in the campus system I worked in. In the campus system, I always tried to see/meet my students outside of the unilateral learning environment of the classroom. I always volunteer coached, ran chess club, did breakfast club and spent extra time on the playground to try and get to know my students, but I never felt like I ever had enough time or ever got to know how they fit within their family.
Last, the online learning world gives me time because I oversee each students program individually, yes one-on-one, while their parents or even grandparents on the ground working directly with the students and also managing any behaviour. What a gift! My students don’t exist within a classroom setting with other students, I am working directly with them. Their learning plan is individualized and truly their own.
Sitting.
Listening.
Learning.
Knowing.
Being.
Individual.
Students.
The gift of one-on-one time!
I am NOW enough.
Overjoyed and true.
I am grateful for the time with each of my families these last months of home visits. I am blessed to write report cards, yes official documents about each of my students, detailing all the amazing things that they can do and things they will continue to grow into.
Thank you Jesus for calling me back into this world in 2020. I am eternally grateful.
Have an epic Sunday folks and love what you do.
xoxo Joanna
P.S. We also had a Ministry of Education Inspection on the day BEFORE our report cards were due. This means that everything needs to be up-to-date in our student portals including all communication notes and individualized student learning plans. It was seriously “full on”. Time to sleep and ski now!
"Be" ENOUGH 