(For those of you counting at home, even the title is seven words.)

Don’t do it! This might be from the “advice that is easier to give than to take” category.

It’s unfortunate, but there are people who will go out of their way to ruin our fun. Kids in school can be mean sometimes, and if we are being truthful, adults can, too. They can attempt to ruin our day with negative comments or body language. (up to 70% of all communication can be nonverbal) Social media, group texts, and one of my favorites, (the anonymous poster) have never made it easier to insult people at the push of a button. We don’t even have to leave our seats to ruin someone else’s day. People who go out of their way to ruin others’ fun usually say much more about themselves than they do about us.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever received is from my long-time friend and former colleague, Paula Harrison. When students or her children came to her with an issue, she asked, “Would you like me to be an active listener, or do you want me to add some advice?” My go-to advice when my students are in these situations is, “You are such an amazing person, I hope you are not going to allow them to ruin your fun.” We must let our students know we can choose not to let other people ruin our day. That can be difficult at times, but it is possible. This power of choice is a key tool in maintaining our own happiness and not letting others dictate our emotions. 

Whomever you put in charge of your feelings, you put in charge of you.

Dr. Becky Bailey, author of the book, Conscious Discipline. 

Alternatively, people can unintentionally ruin our fun. How about the person in traffic whose rush is so important that they are willing to forsake all others to get where they are going? They don’t set out to upset us, but they could ruin our day if we let them. Or the kid in the tag game who clearly got tagged but they are pretending that they didn’t. That could ruin the whole game for some of their peers. It’s important to remember that such actions are usually not personal in situations like these.  Remember, our students, and we have the power to choose how we react. You could let these situations ruin your fun or not. 

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Charles R. Swindoll 

As always, thanks so much for reading my blog. I hope you have an amazing day, and KEEP MOVING!!

Mark

This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including Mark Housel, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Pair this post with the following:

What Is The Most Fun Thing You’ve Ever Done? by Mark Housel

Happiness Factories by Phil Mathe

The Power of Meaningful and Joyful Experiences by Leticia Cariño

Have you read the latest Book of the Month recommendation?