In the past 24 hours, I swear I've seen this concept of "Quiet Quitting" everywhere.

It's this idea that staff does the "bare minimum" as a way to push against the system that's not valuing them or their work.

And I find this fascinating, especially in education.

Because, let's be honest, education is not in a great spot right now to say the least.

Something (or rather, lots of things) has to deeply and fundamentally change.

And while this email isn't here to discuss that - it's here to support you and your own mental health - I just want to acknowledge that what many of you are facing as educators right now is a system that is flawed, that doesn't value and support teachers they way that they should be ... the list could go on.

But all of this got me thinking about what's called the CTFAR Method that I learned from Neill Williams that goes as such:

C = Circumstance

T = Thoughts

F = Feelings

A = Actions

R = Results

And while this concept won't be for all of you, I think it will serve many of you - especially those of you stuck in a position that isn't positive, but who still want to find a way to be happy ... this is your life, after all.

While you can't control all aspects of CTFAR - right, we can't control our circumstance ... we can control everything else.

We get to be in charge of our thoughts around a circumstance, which lead to our feelings, our actions, and ultimately our results, or the reality we experience in our lives.

It essentially takes that old adage of "Life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you react" but in a much clearer, concrete way.

So my thought for you around this is the following:

While you can't control your circumstance at all, you do get to control your thoughts around those circumstances, which means you get to control your happiness.

And this isn't an either/or situation. This is a both/and.

You can be mad at the system, frustrated to no end at unsupportive admin, or left in disbelief with bad student behavior AND empower yourself to control the narrative of your life.

In fact, in a recent podcast episode I listened to with Ed Mylett and Dean Graziosi, they were talking about using the pain or pleasure we face as humans to kickstart us in propelling ourselves forward to control that exact narrative, with the ultimate goal of using pleasure to take inspired action toward a different life.

I'm happy to share the link to this episode if you're interested - just hit "reply" and let me know.

And while I know this concept isn't for everyone, I have found it to be extremely powerful in every aspect of my life - from work to relationships to personal growth.

The gist? We can't control our circumstances, but we can control everything else.

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin