{"id":259,"date":"2024-09-11T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T18:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/?p=259"},"modified":"2025-12-17T12:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:21:15","slug":"finding-the-funny-in-the-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/2024\/09\/11\/finding-the-funny-in-the-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Funny in the Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

School supplies are my kryptonite. Notebooks, fresh Ticonderogas<\/a> (iykyk, right?), cute little fake-succulent magnets<\/a>, inspirational saying pencil pouches<\/a>, and the annual \u201cTHIS is the planner that will change my life\u201d purchase. (Spoiler alert: it will not, in fact, change my life.)  I love the idea<\/em><\/strong> of order, even though I realize that my life trends more towards chaos, no matter how I try to organize it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

September is the perennial \u201cthis is the year I get organized\u201d moment for a lot of teachers. Along with new students (and maybe new curricula), we set up new systems, try out new attention-getters, and put up new bulletin boards. We have ASPIRATIONS. This year? 100% our year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then\u2026things happen. Our own personal chaos demons show up and disrupt our systems and processes and our shiny new plans disintegrate before our eyes. Some degree of chaos returns and with it, frustration, exhaustion, and just a pinch of \u201cwhy can\u2019t I get it together?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear me out, though. What if we stop planning and start just\u2026participating? Could it be that the chaos isn\u2019t chaos at all, but rather a natural system doing exactly what it needs to do? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systems thinking<\/a>– a \u201csensitivity to the circular nature of the world we live in; an awareness of the role of structure in creating the conditions we face; a recognition that there are powerful laws of systems operating that we are unaware of; a realization that there are consequences to our actions that we are oblivious to\u201d- give us a new way of understanding how our experiences are shaped by our choices and the things that are beyond our control so that we can be more intentional about where we put our most precious resources (time, energy, and money).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I\u2019m a big believer in finding the funny in the chaos. Carrie Fisher\u2019s wisdom, \u00a0“If it’s not funny, then it’s just true and that’s unacceptable, so it better be funny.” There\u2019s something remarkably centering (and connecting!) about a deep, shared belly laugh when things go sideways and we build deeper relationships with our colleagues, our students, and ourselves. A good laugh can lift a heavy burden and bring light to a dark moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this month’s newsletter<\/a>, I\u2019m sharing some resources to help you make meaning in whatever degree of chaos you find around you and I\u2019m wishing you laughter, joy, and creativity in the days, weeks, and months ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

School supplies are my kryptonite. Notebooks, fresh Ticonderogas (iykyk, right?), cute little fake-succulent magnets, inspirational saying pencil pouches, and the annual \u201cTHIS is the planner that will change my life\u201d purchase. (Spoiler alert: it will not, in fact, change my life.)  I love the idea of order, even though I realize that my life trends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,25],"tags":[7,22,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-little-letters","8":"tag-critical-skills-classroom","9":"tag-little-letters-from-laura","10":"tag-newsletter","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"lthomas","author_link":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/author\/lthomas\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/center.antioch.edu\/csc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}