Well HELLO 2015!

So far this year I have dealt with my little sister's first break up and spent alot of time reading, sleeping, tanning, playing with Mia and Zo and spending time with family.

What I haven't done is any definitive work for school this year. Nor have I been back into school to switch classrooms... something I am still dreading.

I should feel guilty about this lack of work and amount of general relaxing I have done... however - I am completely ready to go back to school now. A week ago? Not quite.

During these holidays I've had time with two sisters who managed to bankroll me haha and timed their stays just for my payday and then left the day or two after. Pretty clever if you ask me. So I've spent a considerable amount of time just mucking around.

During this mucking around time I have read nine books, found a tonne of research that can help with this year, created a new classroom website - link here:    , re found my love of Pinterest - mainly because I want to start learning how to sew and so why not make dresses?

I've also completely ignored my blog. It took me absolutely ages to switch off and once I'd finally did it - with the force of a bored 14 year old sister in tow... I could relax. Gone were the consistent checking of Twitter notifications or to see if anyone had said anything interesting worthy of a favourite or re-tweet. Gone were the need to send and check emails. Gone was the focus on upping my #YesYear. Gone was the pressure to keep going hard.

All I have left right now is an appreciation of everything I did last year. Everything you all have done for and with me. Everything seems peaceful and relaxed and it has been a long long time since I felt this relaxed.

And yes - I know school is about to start. And that I said I was ready. But regardless, I have had an amazing year and I am ready for the next challenge I have set for myself.

One of .... dah duh daaaah....

Consistency

If you know me at all by now - you will have seen that I love doing things to make others happy, to start new things and do lots of things for lots of different reasons. Most of 2014 was to prove myself that if I can do things that are selfish, important to me and make me happy - then perhaps I might actually enjoy myself.

Because I do enjoy myself when helping others - but it's a different thing. Now that I know what it feels like to not only do things for myself and yet somehow still help others - I figure I can still do that. Except I need consistency.

Consistency to not only keep up with everything I take on and make it balanced, but also to ensure that whatever is the most important to me - helping others (students, colleagues, family and friends) is done first and done right. So, here comes 2015. The year I attempt consistency.

Some of those things will be:

Ensuring my students work is all in at the same time, to me for marking and then to the moderators. On time.
Ensuring that my paperwork and digi-work is all up to date.
Ensuring that I keep doing what I love but not to the detriment of my students learning - hence the need for flipped learning particularly if 1) I want them to achieve higher and 2) I need to keep doing what makes me happy (PPTA, teaching others, MWWL, etc
Ensuring that I continue to strive for my goals in teaching, PPTA, MWWL and my PLN
Ensuring that I follow my heart and focus on what is actually important
Ensuring that I allow myself time to breathe and relax before the next big event
Ensuring that I take care of myself, hinengaro and tinana..  because otherwise there is no point
Ensuring that I do things that I love - to make sure I am not just serving others
Ensuring that I give time to every opportunity and also know when enough is enough
Ensuring that I still have an amazing year this year but perhaps saying 'Yeah Nah' a few more times may help improve consistency
Ensuring that I love what I do and enjoy what I'm doing - there really shouldn't be a problem :)