The Pawsitive Panther
O.C. Back. Together. Better.
The Power of Positive Relationships
Humans are an intrinsically social species. This means our happiness and success largely depend on the relationships we build with others. When building relationships on a day-to-day basis, we really only have two distinct choices we can make:
- 1. We can choose to build positive, meaningful, healthy, and productive relationships with the people we interact with.
2. Or we can choose to build negative, empty, toxic, and destructive relationships with the people we interact with.
Knowing how to maximize the positive relationships and minimize the negative relationships is key to living a happy and satisfying life.
Positive relationships encourage personal growth.
One benefit to positive relationships is that you encourage each other to grow and flourish. Friends like seeing friends succeed and achieve their goals. And most of the time, good friends are willing to help you in anyway they can if it means seeing their buddy be happy and successful.
Positive relationships give you support during tough times.
Another huge benefit to positive relationships is that they provide support during tough times. We all have our bad moments, whether it be health-related, money-related, or something else. Thankfully, having a supportive social circle is one of the best ways to stay strong, persist forward, and get a little bit of help when we need it.
Positive relationships enable you to collaborate and work together.
The more we get along with someone, the better we are at collaborating and working together. Human relationships thrive when individuals can combine their skills and talents, and successfully create something greater than the sum of their parts. This is the stuff that makes businesses and other social institutions work.
Positive relationships create feelings of pleasure and joy.
One of the more obvious benefits of positive relationships is that they make life more enjoyable. Good friends, family, and co-workers make life an overall more pleasant experience – we enjoy spending time with these people, and we often share positive moments with them on a frequent basis. They provide that extra flavor to life that we can’t find by ourselves.
Positive relationships add more meaning to our life.
Having positive relationships in our life increases our sense of purpose and meaning. When we have a real, positive effect on someone else, we feel like we are making a significant difference in the world – and we are.
Positive relationships enrich our life story. They fulfill our need to belong in a community and they give us a stronger sense of identity. Without this sense of belonging, we can often feel isolated and disconnected with ourselves. But once we find our place in society, we become more comfortable in our own skin.
Positive relationships live on through other positive relationships.
The relationships we build have a much broader influence than just ourselves and our immediate social circle. They also influence people who we may never know exist. When you create a positive connection with someone else, that person is more motivated to make positive connections with other people. Our actions and relationships, therefore, are part of a much larger chain of events that are what influence society as a whole.
So take the time to evaluate the nature of your relationships and find the courage to replace negative, draining relationships with positive, inspiring relationships. As you do so, you'll discover a greater sense of well-being as your healthy relationship network continues to grow!
Self Care
Have a Hobby?
In our modern life, it is easy to forget to take some time out while juggling commitments and responsibilities. As research shows, having a healthy mind is linked to having a healthy body.
Hobbies aren’t just about fun and games; they range from discussing your latest book to baking the perfect brioche. Regardless of your hobby, it can have great benefits for your mind, body, social life and even your overall sense of self.
Hobbies force you to take some time for yourself
Hobbies force you to take a break from your day-to-day stresses and carve out time to devote to yourself. Not all hobbies are play though – some hobbies like reading, writing, designing or learning a new language can keep you productive and instill you with a sense of purpose while having fun. And the more time you devote to become immersed in your hobby, the more satisfaction and sense of achievement you can get out of it.
Hobbies provide a way to declutter your mind
Hobbies can keep you in the moment, taking your mind away from stressful thoughts and focusing on an activity you enjoy. While not all hobbies offer the same level of mental or physical engagement, hobbies help you practice mindfulness techniques without even realizing it. Some of the more popular hobbies for decluttering your mind include meditation, knitting, sewing, painting, drawing and cooking.
Hobbies keep you in better physical health
Physical hobbies can be a great way to keep in shape. Hobbies such as gardening, hiking, dancing, yoga, sports or fitness can keep us active without the feeling of an obligatory trip to the gym. Turning exercise into a hobby will also have flow-on effects from increased confidence, increased energy levels and an overall increase in your physical health.
Hobbies can open up your world
Hobbies can encourage you to stretch the limits of your imagination, see the world in a new way, or provide you with the mental space to come up with great ideas. When you devote yourself to a hobby, you take on new challenges that motivate you to learn new ways to improve. Hobbies not only satisfy a curious mind, but can also put you in touch with a completely new community of people, allowing you to broaden your experiences and your social life.
We all have special interests we wish we had the time to pursue. However, in the COVID era, life has most likely given us the time and opportunity we need to turn that "maybe tomorrow" into "definitely today."
In Person Learning is Here!!!
WELCOME BACK PANTHERS!!!
It is an awesome sight to see so many more students back on campus for In Person Learning. During the week of October 5th , we have approximately 580 students attending on A days and 500 students attending on B days. On Monday, October 19th, the 1st day of the 2nd 9 weeks, we anticipate the numbers to grow even more, but also keeping in line with the Metro Health Department, Texas Department of State Health Services, and the Center for Disease Control guidelines. Pictured above is our OC Courtyard during 4th lunch.
We got Spirit! 1st Virtual Pep Rally
OC Decision of Respect
We Appreciate our OC Custodians
National Custodian Appreciation Day on Oct. 2, 2020, has a deeper meaning amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this pandemic, we have come to count on our Custodians as our first line of defense on the war on COVID 19, and often, it’s a thankless task. Cleaning classrooms, restrooms and campus facilities day in and day out is a herculean task in an average year. When you add a pandemic into the mix, the work becomes even more crucial to the health and well-being of our school.
OC custodians each clean over 30,000 square feet of classroom space, offices and common areas. That is equivalent to cleaning about 15 average sized houses every single day. But the spaces they clean are not the same as someone’s home, where only a small family and possibly a pet or two live. These spaces at OC often have several thousand people using them daily!
More often than not, our custodians, quietly and without attention, do the important job of keeping us safe. We cannot thank our custodians enough for the hard work and attention to detail in making OC a safe and clean environment. As far we’re concerned, custodians are the silent heroes on our campus!
OC Custodian highlight is Socorro Trevino. You will see her in the A, J, and H buildings. She has been living in the US for 7 years and has worked here at OC for the past 6 years. She has 3 children and 2 grandchildren whom she adores. We appreciate you Socorro!
Take the OC Decision of Respect Pledge
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. It is our goal in NISD to embed the character of respect with our students. Character is what someone does when not one is watching. We ask each student to take the pledge and make a Decision of Respect. Click on the link below