JTMS Counseling Newsletter
November 23, 2020
What are you most thankful for?
Mrs. Carroll's Family Thanksgiving Traditions
Many families celebrate Thanksgiving by eating traditional foods from their cultures. Do you have lasagna for Thanksgiving because your family is Italian? Do you have red beans and rice because your family is Puerto Rican? Or maybe you eat pierogies because your family is Polish. For some families, the main celebration is what's on TV- maybe a parade or a football game. Maybe you celebrate a different way, or you don't celebrate it at all. For many of us, this year, we won't be able to see people that we wish we could, or travel to other states. This year will probably be different for those kinds of celebrations, too.
No matter how your Thanksgiving looks, feels, smells or tastes this year, just remember, there's ALWAYS something to be thankful for. In fact, my favorite tradition for Thanksgiving, is, just before digging into the food, everyone around our table says what they are most thankful for.
How about you? What are you thankful for?
Self-Control and Balance
Here are a few suggestions to help:
1. Believe in yourself.
It might sound weird to say, but people who think they have control over their lives are usually more successful at controlling more of their lives. Here's the thing: if you believe you can make a change, pretty soon, you will know you can make that change because you ACTUALLY DO MAKE THAT CHANGE! It all starts in your head.
2. Set yourself up for success.
We get it, Among Us is a super fun game. We would play it all the time, too, if we could! The best way to improve your self-control and balance is to keep your temptations far away. Don't keep your phone near your school laptop. Set alarms on your google calendar make sure you're getting all of your school work done, and ONLY start playing Among Us if your work is finished. Otherwise, the game is the imposter, right?
3. One goal at a time.
Your brain can't handle more than that very easily, so you are more likely to give up if you try to change too many parts of your life at the same time. It's too hard for anyone to suddenly make many big changes in their life, like:
a) start cleaning your room every day (if you used to do it once a year)
b) never miss a single homework (if you missed 20 last marking period)
c) run three miles every day (if you have trouble walking up stairs without huffing and puffing)
d) never eat sugar again (if sugar is your current entire food pyramid)
e) ...you get the idea!
Pick one goal, and, for good measure, make it a SMART goal- remember from the newsletter on November 9th: https://www.smore.com/jyq25 ?
That way, you'll improve your self-control and your life balance one meaningful, do-able, possible step at a time. And, guess what! You CAN do it!
November is American Indian Heritage Month
Here's some information from an online article about the native origins of lacrosse, which is linked below.
"Before it was called lacrosse, the Algonquin called the sport baggataway and the Iroquois called it tewaarathon. Legend has it that it was named lacrosse by French settlers who thought that the stick looked like the staff carried by their Bishops at church, called a crozier. In French, the crozier is called a crosse. The settlers watched the Indigenous people playing their game and called it “la crosse.”"
Essentials with Miss Ellingsen
Mindful Music
Useful Links
JTMS Counseling Department
Miss Ellingsen, Mrs. LaCatena, Mrs. Carroll and Ms. Martino
Email: scarroll@jefftwp.org
Website: www.jefftwp.org
Location: 1000 Weldon Road, Oak Ridge, NJ, USA
Phone: 973-697-1980
Twitter: @JTMScounseling