“Hope is the boldest act of imagination I know” - Edith Eger

As a new month unfolds, we get the chance to begin again. 

Daylight lasts a bit longer, calendars grow full of engagements, and Mother Nature does whatever she chooses. January begins with promise and as February rolls around, it’s hard to believe that that first month held the same number of days as many previous ones. In much of the northern hemisphere, we’re smack in the center of the winter doldrums, holding onto hope to make it through…and sometimes the ride is even harder than we expected. 

Resolutions ebb and flow, second semesters start, and many are already counting down to spring or even summer’s arrival. There are friends anticipating the return of pitchers and catchers, some high school seniors waiting with bated breath for those athletic offers or acceptance letters, and a tiny animal pops its head out telling us if we’ll get to wear our shorts sooner than we thought. Whether you’re leaning on baseball, a tiny groundhog, your upcoming holiday, that next hug, or a bowl of sweet treats, we all hold tight to the things that can see us through something tough. 

For years, I sought to have all my school holiday vacations booked even prior to the start of the year. I had a countdown to school break on my chalkboard, and couldn’t wait to find myself amidst the warmth of summer’s sun. In the height of winter, joy seeking took effort. 

In today’s time and space, the world can feel like it’s a literal firestorm. Devastating wildfires have wreaked havoc, political upheaval is center stage, and the Middle East is a tinderbox of heartache and hope. These days the fight between being an informed, contributing citizen and hibernating in a pillow fort with all your favourite stuffed animals, trusty flashlight, and gallons of ice cream is a constant tug of war. When you can’t head to your version of a tropical getaway and much seems draped in sadness, how do you hold on to hope?

Tough times come in many forms. Coupled with grief, processing, recovery, relief efforts, helpers, and a whole host of time and therapy, there’s the possibility of not only getting through, but moving forward, and thriving. While lost luggage on your once-a-year adventure, rain on your wedding day, delayed or canceled flights, or even a sudden case of the tummy bug that knocks you off your game doesn’t come close to utter devastation, disaster, disease, or trauma of the worst kinds, each has moments of awful, struggle, grief, pause, recalibrating, help, and next steps. 

All come with the notion of how do we make it through, what strategies do we tap, what help and hope can we lean on, what service can we offer, what space can we create…and where do we go from here?

Each of us show up in life with our own stuff and our own lens to view the world. An inconvenience to one could be far more to another. A trauma hits us each differently and there’s no timeline of its effects. 

When the world seems hard, how do you get through? 

Can you reach out, can you lean in, do you have support, can you find snippets of joy, do you have coping strategies, are your needs met, are you safe, can you give yourself grace? 

How do we share this with the young people in our life? How can we include the life lessons of resilience coupled with empathy in our designed curricula? 

While we can do our level best to cultivate and create those safe spaces in our classrooms and communities, can we ensure that empathy and EQ is embedded in our educational entities from those early days of pre-school into adulthood? 

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it” - Maya Angelou

Travelers have stories of action adventure, but also share ones of detours and derailments. They begin with missed connections, cancelled visas, or a medical situation in a land far from home. Yet, most often, the focus of the story is not the incident itself, it’s the helpers, the resilience, or what comes next. 

Intertwined amidst the struggle or chaos is the kindness of strangers, help that showed up from unexpected places, perspective, gratitude, and even a pay it forward attitude. Sometimes it includes a comforting bowl of joy, sometimes it includes a friend who came to the rescue in the eleventh hour, and sometimes it includes a safe space or a moment to quite literally, just be. The event happened, the effects are real, some stay forever while others are a moment in time.

The common thread is how we choose to respond.

Positive psychology, the scientific study of human flourishing (Martin Seligman) has long battled for its position and status in the scientific community. This focus on strengths, meaningful relationships, positive emotions, and more encourages practices of gratitude, celebrations of joy, deep connections, and creates a framework for positive mental well-being. 

This is not seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. It’s not believing everything is filled with unicorns and rainbows – but it is a research-backed, scientific approach that gears us to look for the good, to seek fulfillment, to engage in meaningful activities, to practice gratitude, and both notice and make time for joy. Each of those bits of inner work, each of those acts of self-care, each of those proactive strategies and celebrations of strengths rack up in the positive to help us cope, muddle through, and balance our systems. 

Every journey has its own twists and turns. While many of us wish to navigate our adventures through only positive experiences and interactions, the truth of life is each winding road could come across bumps, downed trees, cut off paths, and difficult detours. 

It’s how we act at the crossroads that tells our stories. It’s our coping and our courage, our resilience and our recovery, our battles and our bounce backs, our gratitude and grit, and most importantly, how and what we choose to do with what we endured that changes the game. 

Perhaps it’s a level we don’t even know we have, that ounce of courage stored deep inside, the hunger for survival, or the innate need to help. Perhaps it’s a deep-seated feeling that you’ll make it, trusting your ability and capability, or knowing that friends and strangers have your back. Maybe it’s grit, a strong faith, an inner knowing, or a willful intention. 

We have the power to choose, somehow, somewhere, a space that we keep all to ourselves. We’ve watched it in survivors, we’ve seen it in unspeakable situations, and we’ve witnessed strength and courage beyond measure. 

In those moments of struggle, what can you embrace? 

Maya Angelou reminds us that every storm runs out of rain…and I won’t argue with such brilliance. If you’re in the midst of it all, we’re right beside you. If you’re in that space where things are hard, you’re not alone. A friend once told me if I needed an extra hug, to reach in my pocket and squeeze and her hand would be right there. In that very moment, she was a lightbringer. 

So, when the world seems hard, when you need a bit of extra light and hope, reach in a pocket and squeeze. We’ve got you, and we’re squeezing right back.  

“Hope does not deny the evil, but is a response to it” - Jane Goodall

4 Tips to Anchor Yourself in Tough Times

“If you’re going through hell, keep going” - Winston Churchill

Kindness, Empathy, Altruism

“Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing – not career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity” - Audrey Hepburn

Sometimes you need to step away to step forward. Sometimes, when the world throws what feels like heaps at you all at once, it’s okay to do far less. 

Take the break, put down the phone, focus on you. Do your best to offer yourself kindness and rebuild your stores of strength. 

Matthieu Ricard, author, scientist, humanitarian, Buddhist monk, and holder of the title ‘happiest man alive’ is a world-renowned expert on altruism. Often cited as the selfless concern for the wellbeing of others, acts of altruism have mental health benefits. Altruism rewires the brain, shifting the neural pathways. Doing something for someone else quite literally brings out your happy. 

Stanford University has an entire center devoted to the research and education for altruism and compassion. So, offer yourself that kindness, try to see the world from someone else’s perspective, or selflessly offer a hand. For a moment or more, you might change your own story, too. 

Grace and Resilience

“When the going gets tough, the tough reinvent” - RuPaul

We all know the adages about not stopping the waves but learning to surf, or dancing in the rain, jumping in puddles, or looking for rainbows. We know to look for stars in the darkness, witness rays of sunlight break through hazy clouds, smile at butterflies, and that we can always, always focus on our own breath. 

Putting this into practice is another story. I went to university outside of Boston. On days when the world felt loud or heavy, I often took myself to Walden Pond, trying to engage in those serene moments depicted by Henry David Thoreau. There, he carved out time and space to be. 

In today’s hurried world, rarely do we have the chance to intentionally create space and time to just breathe. In moments of hard, can we schedule that time, can we give ourselves permission to sit, to feel, and to move through the moments? Offering ourselves that grace will nurture our strengths and foster resilience. 

If our young ones notice us doing it, perhaps they might try it, too. 

Find your own pond, and be there. 

Joy and Hope

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without words and never stops at all” - Emily Dickinson

Holding onto hope is strength in action. Seeking joy taps and elevates those feel-good chemicals. 

In the moments when the world seems dark, looking for the light isn’t frivolous, it’s vital to our continued growth and healing. Disney’s Inside Out and its sequel remind us that we can hold conflicting emotions simultaneously. The nuance of it all is a practice in itself, but joy and sadness can coexist. 

We can struggle and have a moment of laughter with a friend, a cuddle with a puppy, or a peaceful yogic breath. We can be in pain while still hopeful. When wrought with anxious thoughts, when the overwhelm is strong, and when it’s nearly impossible to see the other side, hope is still there. 

Reach down deep, search far and wide, open your eyes to every glimmer. It may just be the shift we need. 

Service and Community

“Life is tough, darling, but so are you” - Stephanie Bennett-Henry

Acts of service offer so much to so many. Their goal, to make life easier for someone, yet the takeaway is often felt by both the giver and receiver. 

When life is tough, do something for someone else. 

Perspective shines a light, gratitude enriches, and action moves us closer to our next steps forward. Mahatma Gandhi reminds us that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” 

If you have the space, advocate, help, show up. Offer a helping hand, lend your skills, give your time, do something for someone else. Your acts of service can make a positive impact on someone’s world, and in turn, it might even change yours, for the better. 

“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t” - Thomas Edison

Please click the photo below for a collection of my Through the Eyes of an Educator columns:

Stacey Ebert, our Educational Travels Editor, is a traveler at heart who met her Australian-born husband while on a trip in New Zealand. Stacey was an extracurricular advisor and taught history in a Long Island public high school for over fifteen years, enjoying both the formal and informal educational practices. After a one year 'round the world honeymoon, travel and its many gifts changed her perspective. She has since left the educational world to focus on writing and travel. She is energetic and enthusiastic about long term travel, finding what makes you happy and making the leap. In her spare time she is an event planner, yogi, dark chocolate lover, and spends as much time as possible with her toes in the sand.

Check out her website at thegiftoftravel.wordpress.com for more of her travel musings.