Making Adjustments

Stock Photo by Mike Von via Unsplash

Life is renewed every day. Every day is a new day. There is no day like yesterday, today or tomorrow. We need to remind ourselves of that fact, and embrace the challenges of the now, prepare for the challenges of the future, and reflect on the moments of the past. Now more than ever, having the ability to adjust is the most essential skill for survival.

“Here are a few adjustments that I’ve made, to smoothly strengthen the transition from working traditionally to working from home:”

Husband/Father Adjustments

During this pandemic, there are plenty of people who have the luxury of working from home, unhindered. I'm not one of them. Before anything else, I am a husband to my incredibly wondrous wife, and a father to my two beautiful Black children. That means working from home looks different for me. There's no getting around it. Here are a few adjustments that I've made, to smoothly strengthen the transition from working traditionally to working from home:

#1 Happy Wife, Happy Life.

This one is straightforward. I've learned to adjust to the expectations that my wife has for me as I work for home. For me, spending quality time and demonstrating acts of service for my wife is just as or even more important as everyday self-care tasks for myself.

#2 Put First Things, First

During this pandemic, the one thing that most of us have in abundance is time. Therefore, it is wise to effectively utilize the "new" time that you have. If you have more time on your hands, spend it wisely. If you have less time on your hands, invest it wisely. In his bestselling book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", author Steven Covey encourages anyone who wants to be effective, to "put first things first." For me, that means random play dates with my four year old daughter, story time/ music hour with my nine month old son, and meditation time for myself - to deal with them both.

#3 Focus On One Thing, Help Others

During this pandemic, be reminded that less is more. We are supposed to go out less, interact with people less, and limit our endeavors to only essentials. Therefore, we are inevitably going to accomplish less. However, if you focus on one specific meaningful task daily, less will be more. Also, remember that taking the time to help others can bring you fulfillment and satisfaction. That can be your daily meaningful task. Try to find a way to help one person everyday- or as much as possible. After all, if you can get one meaningful task done daily that directly benefits your life or the life of someone else, isn't that doing more with your time than before?

Educator Adjustments

During this pandemic, teachers are expected to be more transformational than ever. For some, what was once difficult, now seems impossible. Few know how to walk the line between social emotional learning and academic rigor, grading assignments and being flexible with due dates, and communicating with parents and families, while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. It's a lot. Not to mention, keeping abreast of the political, social and economic turmoil surrounding the teaching profession. Keep in mind, that teaching is a profession that is challenging to sow, but a marvelous joy to reap. Effective teachers must be adroit and translucent.

“Prior to this pandemic, I did not give out my personal phone number to my students. However, I decided to open myself up for help and try new things. ”

As a high school English teacher and basketball coach, I've learned that you can't just focus on yourself and expect the best results. I've learned that in order to receive the best results possible, I had to learn how to project my focus beyond myself into at-risk students, struggling parents, curious colleagues, and a challenging community. Here are some adjustments I've made:

#1 Be Open, Try New Things

Something magical has been happening to me during this pandemic. I've been receiving calls, texts, and emails from my students daily wanting to speak about topics ranging from schoolwork, to future plans, to conspiracy theories to vent sessions. The lessons I've learned from this is twofold; first to be open, then to try new things. Prior to this pandemic, I did not give out my personal phone number to my students. However, I decided to open myself up for help and try new things. Something so simple as giving my students access to me 24/7 but trusting them not to abuse it has resulted in me helping more families than usual. It's an adjustment; so far, so good.

#2 Have More Empathy

Having empathy for others is an adjustment that is easy to say, but hard to do consistently. One way in which I'm practicing this skill is by accepting uncontrollable student outcomes, managing controllable student outcomes, and asking for help from parents, colleagues, and administration, to assist with discerning between the two.

#3 Urgent Communication

Over the past year, I've learned that proper preparation prevents problems and constant clear communication can cause cures. One adjustment I've made in this regard is to attempt to contact every student in my grade-book- at least once a week for as long as this pandemic last. Making phone calls, videoconferencing, sending text messages, drafting emails and posting on Google classroom are unpretentious ways in which I've adjusted my communication. These meek means of communication can alleviate an innumerable amount of issues.

Family and Friendship Adjustment

How do you adjust to not seeing, touching, hearing and being with those closest to you? It seems like there isn't anything you can do to bridge that gap. Here's a simple adjustment I've made; be random! Find random ways to reach out to old family members, create random activities to do, call random friends randomly and talk about random moments. Just be spontaneous, your family and friends will appreciate it- if they appreciate you.

In conclusion, think about how salt is made. There are two separate chemical components that make up salt: sodium and chloride. Separately, sodium is dangerous. Separately, chloride is dangerous. Separately, they cannot be used to preserve things. However, after those chemicals are amalgamated, a change takes place that can preserve things; creating salt. Don't be afraid to adjust yourself and collaborate with others in order to make something powerful. After all, the benefit of salt is in its use.

Use your life skills to help others.

Relax.

Make yourself happy.

Stay in your place of safety.

Eat. Drink. Love.

Don't get frantic. Stay safe and wait until this COVID-19 storm passes.