Thinking is one of my specialties. Funny, you might think because “haha, you’re a counselor and all.” But, it’s something that I’ve naturally always done a lot of whether good or at times bad. Mindfulness is one thing that I struggle with sometimes too. One of the reasons I’m incorporating it into classroom lessons is to help my students gain a sense of peace at a young age so they have the ability to relax when they get to be 25 like me.
Hawaii. Often that is a place where many people think of being their paradise or a dream vacation. Hawaii is something that made me think a lot as well. What about those people that live in Hawaii, where do they vacation? It is a big question when you think about always living in paradise…do they want to see snow? I would think they were crazy for even wanting that white garbage, but who am I to judge?
Anywayyyy I went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago, which seems like an eternity ago. I had a lovely hostess and met a new friend. I traveled on a plane for the longest time I ever had. I was on a plane for over 8 hours. If you know me, you know it was a struggle to sit still for that long. I watched so many movies that I never would sit down to watch, and I even attempted (though it never happened) sleep. I wore my first real lei and I got to feel the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was a trip to remember, and I can’t wait to go back.
While on the plane, I had a lot of time to think…with over 20 hours of combined in flight travel time. It’s one of those things that you wonder how you are going to do it until you really endure it for the whole length of time. But it was well worth it, and I hardly remember being cooped up in a plane for that long. Life in general and where I’ve been and where I’m going.
The other place I seem to think a lot in is the car. The car is truly one of my happy places, especially on a warm day with the windows down and the music blasting and me singing along or just staring out the window thinking about life. Odd, I know, but it is my place to think. Today I contemplated growing up in a volatile environment and how glad I was that this wasn’t the case. I thought about all of the kids that have to go through these environments everyday and how resilient they are. How would I be if that was my story? Would I be as happy as I am? Would I even be a school counselor? Questions are like my main thing these days I guess.
Other things I think about are less common things one might think about such as: What does the Yankee Candle factory smell like? How do they keep those scents separate? Even though these questions are really not important ones and probably ones that could be answered by a simple Google of the information, I am still wondering about it….because, well, that’s what I do.
One thing I never want to lose is my curiosity and love for learning, however. When we stop wanting to learn, we really stop living. I learn something everyday. Whether it be losing my Betta fish Ed today to a tragic water transfer issue or listening to a kiddo tell me something they are feeling that they couldn’t express before, I am thrilled with learning. I never want to lose that, and that may sound nerdy, but as someone in education and someone who was never out of school until 1.5 years ago I love learning and thinking. Soooo..never stop thinking and wondering and learning. You never know what you may wonder about (or learn) that could change your thinking. 🙂