In all honesty, I think we overuse the phrase. Someone gives us a gift, and we utter "Best day ever!" Your teacher doesn't give you homework and suddenly it's "Best day ever!" My own kids even say it when I come home with donuts or Italian ice from the grocery store. It's become a phrase that's common in our vernacular, something we say without always really meaning it.
Best. Day. Ever. How could a day that seems so ordinary--one where the heat is still encircling us in October or the rain prevents us from going outside--be the best day? Aren't we over-reaching and exaggerating just a bit? Does it come off the tongue so easily because we are putting things in perspective? After all, we are living amidst a pandemic which seems to still wreak havoc everywhere we go. People are still getting sick from this virus, school is nothing like it used to be, and we hide our faces behind masks more often than not. So how can we simultaneously utter that phrase "Best day ever" when no day seems to be good, let alone the best? But maybe that's exactly what we need to do. Maybe that's what will change our perspective in a world that seems darker and more gray than usual.
I started to focus on the little things that I deemed "good" at the start of the school year. Life feels more manageable when I focus on the pavement in front of me during my runs, when I hold the steaming cup of tea in my hands and just be, when I listen--really listen to the student in front of me, the music blaring through my air pods, even the sound of the train running through my backyard. Best. Day. Ever.
I started to recognize the little things that have been happening around me instead of focusing on the larger things I can't control. When someone asks me how this year is going, I typically respond with "It's a whole lot better than last year!" And it is. For one, I am not tied to a zoom trying to complete the ultimate balancing act of teaching both students in the room and those online. Yet, while things are better, I'll be perfectly honest; being an educator right now is not easy. Our jobs have been totally rearranged and some days seem utterly unrecognizable. But what if we focused on the moments that make us shout "Best. Day. Ever."? What if we found the good? I'm not suggesting that this is possible for every situation, and I'm certainly not naïve enough to look at the world through rose colored glasses even though I've been criticized for doing that from time to time. I've also read enough about toxic positivity to know that no matter how difficult, every situation cannot be looked at as positive. I know that it's okay not to be okay. There are some days in this pandemic where I have to remind myself of that. What I'm suggesting is to validate the times that are challenging for you but also find those best-day-ever moments--as small as they may be right now.
So let me recount some of my best-day-ever moments I've experienced in our classroom this past month. Maybe it's my IB English students who were able to speak in their oral commentary practice far longer than I ever expected. Or perhaps it's my Composition Theory students who re-opened the Raider Writing Center this month. There's also been my Theory of Knowledge juniors who delivered snacks to all of the teachers last week and my Theory of Knowledge seniors who I get to spend 30 minutes outside with every single day eating lunch. It's little things like the notes my students leave each other on the dry erase tables or the student who is quiet and finally speaks up in a classroom Socratic seminar. It's the student who laughs at my corny joke or the ones who write a joke of the day that goes along with our studies of The Great Gatsby. It's watching the students in the rage cage cheer their hearts out or the members of the football team who listen to my message and actually take me seriously or the band perform on the field after a year-long hiatus.
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| Ready to Open the Raider Writing Center |
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| One of the many notes I find on my whiteboard tables |
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| Delivering snacks to teachers |
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| Practice Oral Commentaries |
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| Outside with the Seniors |
This summer, Nike released a commercial called "Best Day Ever." In the commercial, Nike imagines a tomorrow where a young girl goes on her first run, where sports records are broken. It's a world where sneakers grow on trees, a marathon is run on Mars, and an athlete's mental health is valued. The commercial ends by saying, "Well done, tomorrow. Can't wait to see what's next." The first time I saw that commercial, I immediately googled it to watch it again. I felt empowered to look at things in a different way, to ask "what if" instead of dwell on what I can't. I felt the need to find those best-day-ever moments in my own life.
So this month, I encourage you to find your best-day-ever moments, too. Acknowledge what's bringing you down but also focus on what's making you rise to the top right now. And on those difficult days when the work just piles up or you just want to rip the mask off your face and go back to a school you remember before this pandemic ever took root, take a breath and focus on tomorrow. Focus on the one thing that is allowing you to take one step forward. Feel free to say it--Best. Day. Ever.--even if it is sorely overused. I never thought Spongebob Squarepants would bring me so much writing inspiration--especially after suffering through the second movie with my eight year-old son years ago. But maybe Spongebob wasn't so wrong after all. Maybe we need to just keep looking at those small moments, wrapping our arms around them so that we, too, can shout "Best day ever!" So that we, too, can acknowledge, "Well done tomorrow. Can't wait to see what's next."
