The Lighthouse Diary #33: What We Tell Ourselves During Tough Times

 

I am back to wearing the Adviser's Hat this academic year. One month into the term, I am still adjusting. How I wish it was like riding a bike again after a long while. Ah, the value of muscle memory. It is not the same with teaching children and students, or with trainig people in general.

What keeps my spirit up is the support of colleagues and co-advisers, as well as the honesty and diligence of my students. How admirable that they all could manage to show up and do the work as best as they can. This energy is evident in the online environment too. I discovered, it is not less real or inauthentic. There are signs to watch out for. Cues and clues to catch the sincerity from engaging with people online.

Suffice it to say that we are learning and adapting to this new normal. If anything, this change can bring about new ways to relate with people. What remains is the eagerness and the need to connect, to communicate and to create.

This self-care/self talk poster I made for my advisory class is aimed to remind my students that they are not alone in online distance learning. The quotes written on each block are words they wish to hear from me and from themselves during tough times.

At the start of the academic year, when we had our first group advisory session, I told them that the Diploma Program is rigorous. So, before we identified personal goals, we accepted that there are difficulties to face, eventually. Fleshing these out can come in later or in mid-term when submission of requirements and deadlines are pilling up on top of the other. So, I asked my advisees what they want to hear from me when things get really tough. What will they tell themselves?

The poster is evidence of their resilience, empathy and grit.