Resolution.

I don't typically make a lot of New Years resolutions, but here's one that's pertinent if you read this blog (by chance. I don't want to make you do anything that collides with your own new year promises). I'm going to make an effort to post at least weekly. Hell, I even set a weekly reminder on my phone. So here is the first. Week 1/52: ✅

Enough of the chipper stuff. If you are looking for some way to perk up your mood for the year and maybe alter some of that negative goop that keeps following you around, here's something I've tried for each school year (adaptable for your traditional calendar-minded folk): try a joy jar.

Sure it sounds silly. Here's the pitch. Every time there is an event, a moment, a thought, or conversation that brought you joy, write it down on a little slip of paper and put it in a little decorative jar. I have a yarn-wrapped Mason jar that I can't find a lid to. It doesn't have to be every moment (though some of you are naturally perky and ambitious), but maybe one thing. It might not happen every day, and there's no pressure if it doesn't. But at the end of the year, pour out your jar and read all the moments you've catalogued of your happiness. It's less time intensive than a journal, and honestly really rewarding at the end.

I tried this the last year of my master's program and found so much laughter in remembering the little things. Stuff like my niece saying something odd, or a conversation that made me laugh so hard I cried, or a teaching moment I was proud of.

Good luck with your first week of resolutions. Check one off the calendar.