March’s theme is an action, goal, and ongoing practice that I hold very dear to my heart: reflection.

It is so hard to be truly reflective. In my “real life” outside of the internet, I’m an art educator, and a big part of my teaching work is being sure to take time to reflect. It helps us be better educators and people when we can take the time to celebrate what in a discussion or activity went well, and think about what could be better.

In planning, it’s the same thing. If you take the time to tweak a spread or adjust it from week-to-week, you’re reflecting on what could be better. If you’re tracking something positive, you’re acknowledging that something went well.

And in life, I believe being reflective can help us be better, more empathetic human beings — by celebrating the wins and noting what could improve, it helps us be kinder to ourselves and also kinder to others.

So this month in the Unfolding the Year challenge, to help us be more reflective, we’re starting to turn inward to think about why we think about things.

The introduction to this month’s theme is short and relatively simple, but the act of being reflective can actually be really difficult, because it requires us to be honest with ourselves. Think about it: how often do you sit with your own thoughts and say, “I did that really well and I’m super proud of myself”, or “I don’t want to admit it, but I didn’t handle this situation well and this was what I could have done better”? Having those conversations with yourself are really difficult. They’re worth it, but it can be a challenge to make the time to do it.

We’ll try a really simple but impactful challenge together to flex our reflecting muscles. I’ve found that after many years of reflective practice as a teacher have helped me be reflective in my personal life — and although it’s not usually easy, per se, the act of doing it does become more second nature, and it always helps me see things more clearly.

And if you’re feeling down or like it’s too hard to even try, here’s one of my favorite quotes to keep you going again:

Check out this month’s challenge for some ideas on how you can be more reflective this month. Let’s try it together!