Positivity Pays

Mondays are always hectic.  It's the start of a week and there's always so much organizing, copying, planning, and preparing for the week ahead.  That's in addition to the couple of hours (minimum) put in over the weekend. So, I headed in to school today arriving a bit ahead of my usual schedule to complete my Post-it note of "to do" items always in my planner.  Unlike many Mondays in the past, this year I haven't been as gloomy due to my positive attitude.  I am a true believer in this whole attitude thing since I'm living it first hand this year.  It works!

Check! Check and Check!  I quickly finished up the things I needed to complete to make for a smooth day.  I even had some extra time to chat with a few teacher friends about their weekend.  And then I spent the last twenty minutes before the bell rang looking for a sample animal report from last year to show to my students.  If you are a teacher, you can empathize.  Some days I feel like I look for missing/misplaced things for at least an hour a day.   After becoming frustrated and not being able to locate above mentioned item, I gave up.  Instead of becoming irritated at myself for not being able to find it, I decided to not let it get to me.  It would show up. It always does.  The fact that I spent at least twenty hours over the summer organizing and re-organizing my classroom cabinets and files was disappointing.  And, I am one of the organized teachers.

The bell rang and students poured in, happily sharing stories about their weekends and getting started on their day.   Not long afterward, a colleague came into my classroom and placed something on my desk.  She smiled brightly. 

 Here is what I discovered:

It read:  You spend so much time blogging.... we haven't seen a cupcake!!

For a time (last year) my daughter and I were baking cupcakes and trying new recipes.  The staff lounge was where many of our samples ended up.   It make me laugh and smile to receive the note.  It also made me want to bake some cupcakes and try the recipe she had attached.    But, as you can see, nowadays blogging takes priority.  It does take more time to blog, but it is fat-free!  

Later that same morning another teacher friend arrived and placed something on my desk.  Yes, you are correct.  Those are homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Two of them.

I anxiously awaited other teachers to arrive later today since this seemed to be my lucky day, but I guess I shouldn't be greedy.    I saved my cookies for the end of the day.  I gave one to a student and kept one for myself to eat on the way home.  As you might guess, they were absolutely delicious.  

I'm finding that being positive pays off in many ways.  Not in dollars, of course, but with cookies and friendly notes. It pays off with smiles and good attitudes and good old fashioned fun. It pays off with friendship and support and working together.  It pays off with more laughter, in my classroom and the school.

And it doesn't get much better than that.