After a summer of really uncomfortable and worrisome symptoms, I recently got clarity around what was causing the problems: The diagnosis of a chronic inflammatory disease. I felt equal parts relieved (to finally have some answers) and anxious (there was so much to learn about and understand). Diet and nutrition would go a long way in helping me feel better, but I was already overwhelmed by the reality of what this new habit would look like. Elaborate experiments to discover my triggers. All of my free time spent grocery shopping, scanning aisle after aisle of labels. Weekends dedicated to food preparation, having to plan everything, no spontaneity or fun at restaurants. How was I ever going to manage this?
I know, deep down, that I deserve the effort it would take to be healthy and feel good. It would just mean making some decisions. And it would mean adjusting my perspective a bit.
Maybe I could choose to see my diagnosis as an invitation.
I know, deep down, that I deserve the effort it would take to be healthy and feel good. It would just mean making some decisions. And it would mean adjusting my perspective a bit.
Maybe I could choose to see my diagnosis as an invitation.
"Invitation" is a common part of my vocabulary. Every day, we offer what we call invitations in our classroom. The children always have access to free play, but we teachers also prepare specific arrangements of materials to explore. We usually have an idea in mind of what we hope the children will get out of their experience, some new understanding or cognitive connection that gets made. But sometimes, the children surprise us with the ways they engage with the invitations. Surprise is always a possibility because an invitation is, by nature, the presentation of a choice. We supply the time, space, and materials. The children choose what to do with them - if anything at all.
These days, I'm finding it strangely refreshing to look my life the same way and ask myself what invitations it could be presenting to me, what it might be calling me to consider that I hadn't before.
New medical diagnosis?
An invitation to more closely attend to my body's messages and dedicate care to myself
Students having a particularly difficult day?
An invitation to let go of my own agenda and be fully present for the children
Feeling stressed by household responsibilities?
An invitation to ask for help and relax my expectations
I'm reminded, too, of those children who choose not to participate in a classroom invitation. It is, after all, an invitation and not a demand. A child is always welcome to decline the invitation and continue their own self-selected play. They're simply checking the "will not attend" box on the R.S.V.P. And I can do that, too.
Obligations that are no longer fulfilling?
Will not attend
Exercise I don't enjoy?
Will not attend
Toxic relationships?
Will not attend
These days, I'm finding it strangely refreshing to look my life the same way and ask myself what invitations it could be presenting to me, what it might be calling me to consider that I hadn't before.
New medical diagnosis?
An invitation to more closely attend to my body's messages and dedicate care to myself
Students having a particularly difficult day?
An invitation to let go of my own agenda and be fully present for the children
Feeling stressed by household responsibilities?
An invitation to ask for help and relax my expectations
I'm reminded, too, of those children who choose not to participate in a classroom invitation. It is, after all, an invitation and not a demand. A child is always welcome to decline the invitation and continue their own self-selected play. They're simply checking the "will not attend" box on the R.S.V.P. And I can do that, too.
Obligations that are no longer fulfilling?
Will not attend
Exercise I don't enjoy?
Will not attend
Toxic relationships?
Will not attend
What invitations are presenting themselves to you in your work? In your life? And what will you choose?
