unframe. Freeze frame. reframe.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

I think I am feeling unframed.  
Been sitting at my computer all morning.  
Hulu in the background.  Watching touching videos.  
Trying to figure out WeChat.  
Marcopolo-ing with my family.  
Getting up for lunch.  
Eating two cookies.  
Staring out the window.
Sending "The Pets will Thrive" video to my partner and son.
Figuring out my finances.
Planning for my online classes tomorrow.

Wait.  I'M not unframed.  
My life IS unframed and I am feeling it.  
​Maybe you are feeling it too.  

This puts me into a freeze frame.  
Not sure what to do next.
Wondering if I am widdling away this precious time.
Thinking I need to go on a walk.
Hoping to learn a bunch and get ready for a better week of learning.
Feeling trapped by the more restrictive guidelines. 
At the same time having no ambition to go anywhere. 

Photo by Caleb Minear on Unsplash

I feel frozen.  
​It is hard to move and take action.  

And a gentle reminder comes my way.  When something is unframed, it can be reframed.  And that is the process I am going through.  
I have placed a weight on myself to be thee very best online teacher I can be for my students.  This is the question that keeps traipsing through my mind.  "What am I missing?"  eLearning just doesn't quite feel right yet.  I am trying to find that balance between "keeping things the same" and trying new ideas.   Is there a better way to organize things?  How can I keep us connected?  And on and on and on.  I keep asking myself, "What is missing?"  But what if I reframed that question?

What new things can we try together to stay connected?
What pillars do we already have and how can we enhance them?
How can we bring joy to elearning?

Instead of kicking myself with "What is missing?" (fear-based), I want to reframe it and think, "What can we add?  Or change?  Or enhance?"  (trust-based)  Trusting myself to find the right resources.  Trusting my students to lead the way.  

I know it is the exact same question just reframed, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that reframing matters.  I can shift my mindset to one of deficiency or nurture the mindset of abundance.  

It's a small little shift, but one I am making more than usual these days as I learn to live in this unframed world we find ourselves in.  

Is there anything you need to reframe?  I would love to hear your thoughts about coping and thriving during this unique time.  While we are feeling confined, it is also a time to bust our worlds open to investigate, discover, try, fail, and fly.  

Photo by pine watt on Unsplash