School Counselor and Teacher Partnerships with Rebecca Joyner of It’s Not Rocket Science® [Episode 53]

Lauren
As we get close to rounding out a year of high school counseling conversations, which I cannot even believe it, I’ve brought back Rebecca Joyner, who you may remember back from Episode 15. In Episode 15, we talked all about how positive relationships with students can translate into more successful classroom lessons for you as a high school counselor.

Lauren
Go back and give that one a listen if you missed it, in this episode, we’re talking more about the counselor teacher relationships, including some of the best and worst ones that I’ve experienced. We open up some conversation about taking true breaks from work and caring for ourselves and how honestly that is different for everyone.

Lauren
Now, for her more formal introduction, Rebecca is my real life bestie and we talk about how we know each other and how that relates to our educational paths too. Rebecca Joyner is the high school science teacher turned curriculum writer behind it’s not rocket science.

Lauren
She loves to make creative and comprehensive science curriculum that engages students and simplifies teachers lives so that teaching doesn’t have to be rocket science. She’s the host of the podcast, Secondary Science Simplified, where she shares tips for how secondary science teachers can love their jobs, serve their students, and do it all in only 40 hours a week.

Lauren
If you’ll notice, the style of this episode is recorded, like Rebecca is doing the interview. That is true. That is what happened. She was the one asking me the questions. We originally recorded this for her podcast, which you heard was called Secondary Science Simplified.

Lauren
We’re repurposing it for high school counseling conversations, because it’s a fun one, and I want to use it too. So join us as we laugh and talk about education from both the counselor and the teacher perspective. Let’s go.

Lauren
High School Counseling conversations is a podcast where we talk about exactly that. A casual potpourri of school counseling topics intended to grow us as school counselors, but also give us space to enjoy each other’s company.

I’m Lauren from Counselor Clique and I’m sharing my experiences and perspectives as a high school counselor. No topic is off limits. And I’m certain we’ll cover it all.

I’m your high school counseling hype girl here to help you energize your school counseling program and remind you of how much you love your job.

Whether you’re just getting your feet wet as an intern or you’re nearing retirement, you’ll feel like you’re just popping in to catch up with your school counseling bestie. Let’s go.

Rebecca
Hey, Lauren, how are ya?

Lauren
Hey, Rebecca. I’m excited to have an interview with you our second interview.

Rebecca
I know because I didn’t want for you. And I mean, I’m excited. We’ve already talked several times this morning via voice messages DMS. Now we’re just talking over the podcast. So we’re just making sure we’re covering all of our communication bases.

Lauren
All in one day, all in one morning. It’s all in a day’s work.

Rebecca
I’m going to write you a handwritten letter later.

Lauren
Okay. I can’t wait to get in the mail.

Rebecca
It’ll get there in a couple of weeks. Because snail mail is truly snail. But for those of you listening, if you’re like, why do they talk so much. You should tell them who you are, and your career history, your experience in education, tell them who you are and how we know each other.

Lauren
I would love to I am Lauren Tingle, I am on Instagram and all the places as Counselor Clique. I am a former high school counselor of almost 10 years, I worked in a large public school setting the same school my entire career. And then in the last couple of years, I mean, maybe two, three years, I have taken a turn and stayed home with my girls.

Lauren
And I’m working as a content creator and resource creator for other high school counselors. So I love putting together resources to help high school counselors to give them the tools that I didn’t necessarily have or have time for when I was in high school. So that’s what I’m kind of doing. Now. I was like I said in the same school the entire time.

Rebecca
Well, you had a crazy last year in the classroom, because your last year was the pandemic year. And then for people listening, you are planning to go to the back to the classroom when you had your second that you couldn’t get a daycare spot.

Lauren
Right. That was a quick decision. It was never anything I planned on. We made the decision. I thought about it on Friday. And on Monday I was on the phone with my assistant principal saying I never expected to make this phone call but here I am.

Lauren
Because I mean short backstory. Daycare said we don’t have a second spot you might want to start looking somewhere else. And then I thought if I have a newborn and a toddler at home and daycares are closed and we’re doing this again in the fall I don’t think I can be a good counselor and a good mom.

Lauren
And then I also had the realization that I can go back whenever I want and when it’s time to go back I will go back to being a high school counselor like best job in the entire world. I’m still obsessed with it.

Rebecca
Well and I am so grateful because now we are on the same work schedule aka work during naptime and mother’s morning out time and so we get to talk all the time. Okay, so we got your career backstory tells our friend backstory. How do we know each other?

Lauren
Well, we’re best friends now. Because we, somebody told us that we should be roommates together when I was finishing grad school, you were finishing undergrad. And it was like multiple people were coming to both of us saying, Hey, I know this girl looking for a roommate. I think you’d be friends.

Lauren
We became friends, we became roommates. And then we became coworkers, which was really fun. I bet the people of the internet when they see us, like tag each other and stuff. I know, they don’t always realize that we were roommates like living and working together, probably doing everything short of carpooling to work together. I’m surprised we didn’t do that.

Rebecca
I mean, we really did everything. So yeah, so the context is people keep saying we need to meet each other. I got a job at this high school, we decided to live together a couple months later, you got a job at the same high school. So then we got to be coworkers.

Rebecca
Plus, we were roommates. You delivered my wedding dress on my wedding day. Like that’s how close we are at this point. And now we get to like, raise our kids together from across the state

Lauren
for places, right? But we’re virtual,

Rebecca
We’re virtual co parenting together. And yeah, just doing life together. It’s it’s the best. And I’m so grateful for you and I loved working with you. It was the best time ever.

Lauren
It made going into work so fun.

Rebecca
It made it so fun. And just knowing that there was someone who knew all the same people at work as me and like I could come home and debrief with we had Friday Bride-Day, I don’t know if anyone remembers this like 20 years ago that TLC may still be doing it. If TLC still channel, I’m not even sure because we don’t have cable.

Rebecca
But TLC used to do Friday bride day, and they would do Say Yes to the Dress marathons. And we would get home from work and just lay on the couch and watch Friday, Friday and like talk about the week. And then we would rally and go to the football game together. And that was just so fun to know, the same high school students, know the same coworkers, and get to do all the things together is awesome.

Lauren
And I would say two, we were on opposite ends of the school, like your classroom, from any other place in the school as possible. So it’s not even like we really saw each other that much during the day. But, you know, I always had someone to sit with that faculty meetings, I always had someone to text, Did you just hear that at this meeting, I can’t believe we’re sitting in this PD together.

Lauren
But we’re probably we’re sitting together anyways. But you know, just being in the same building. And knowing the same people I think is a fun point, like fun, you, you would understand the things that were stressful, or the things that were annoying, and you just have someone to debrief with.

Rebecca
And there was this one dark, dark day for me, where I had a bad latte from Starbucks. And I’m gonna tell I’m not telling all the details, because I don’t want to lose followers. But long story short, I had to sos text you to come cover my class, because I had to express some demons from my body in the bathroom. And it was a tragic, tragic day.

Lauren
I’m not even a teacher, but like, I know that SOS distress signal when I hear it, so I’m going to run across the building and help out a friend.

Rebecca
So having a friend network is the best. And the other thing you would like to say because I mean, then I moved because we moved from my husband’s job. So you had yours at that school without me. And you had tons of other friends

Lauren
And I just cried every day.

Rebecca
I know you cried. But you have. You’re a very social person. One of the things I love that you and I love seeing that you do with counselors like is you are a gatherer and you even do that on the internet like that is gathering and like bringing people together is not my skill set. But you’ve like created this community of counselors online.

Rebecca
But you also did that at work. So I know you had tons of friends that were co workers, what would you say, to encourage listeners out there who are like, I don’t feel like I’m friends with any of my coworkers? Like what? Why would you encourage them to do that and take the time to do that?

Lauren
Yeah, I actually thought about this recently, because I met a teacher who is young right out of college, and she was telling me like work is not the place where I can really make friends. It was kind of a farther drive from her. So she doesn’t really live directly in that community.

Lauren
And she said, a lot of the people that she works with are in a completely different season than her which she’s like, that’s fine. Like, I can still learn a lot from them, but they don’t really want to, like hang out with me. And I thought, wow, I have been super blessed to be in a school that really does facilitate community.

Lauren
And that’s not just me, that’s something I do like to do, but we had a whole committee of, you know, they might call it different things different places – a sunshine committee, faculty climate, just a morale kind of committee and not everybody wants to partake in those things. But there are a lot of people who move to a new area and that’s where they’re going to make their friends is work and so I found a lot of value in like providing that for people.

Lauren
And that was not just me, I was on a team of people who did that. But that could be trivia after school. That could be a you know, wine and design painting event, like just giving people opportunities to connect with each other. Again, it’s not for everyone, some people are gonna roll their eyes and say, I have to go home and watch TLC Friday bride day.

Lauren
But some people are going to really latch on to that and make some of their best friends at work. And I saw that happen over my time there of, you know, new people coming and going. There were so many people who were like in each other’s weddings from working together at the same place, which I think is really fun to really enjoy where you work and enjoy the people that you work with.

Rebecca
Yeah, I think so too. I always say like two of my favorite ways that we built community that didn’t feel like it added to my plate, especially as an introvert. Like, sometimes those social things can be just too much for me, especially after working all day.

Rebecca
But I loved in our science department at that school, we always ate lunch together on Fridays, like that was a day that we like, socialize, and we got together. And we actually had a schedule where like, we rotated who brought lunch for everybody, and we would bring crock pot meals often. And that was really, really good.

Rebecca
And then also just going to out to eat with people before the football game. Because so many of us were gonna go watch students in the band or on the team, or who are cheering or whatever. And it was fun to be like, Hey, let’s all go grab Mexican. And then we’ll go the football game for an hour together.

Rebecca
Especially like if your spouse or your kids or whoever aren’t going to want to go with you, but you want to go and support students, that was like a fun way to build community with people we worked with. And then like you said, it just makes the day to day so much more fun.

Lauren
I was hoping you’re gonna say the thing about eating lunch together with your department, because my department was, you know, probably half the size of yours. And we would just, hey you ready to eat lunch and like, stop and eat lunch together. Because like, as a counselor, you know, if you have some meetings, you can kind of be a little flexible with your time.

Lauren
But as a teacher, you’ll have a certain amount of time, you’ve got your 20 minutes or 30 minutes to sit down and eat. But that’s a fun touchpoint for the week. And even at the end of the week, it’s like you got to catch up, how’s your week going? What are you doing this weekend, you always have stuff to talk about.

Lauren
So I love that your department did that. I don’t think they do that anymore. After you left. I don’t know if it was like after you left, they stopped doing it.

Rebecca
They just they missed so much. My crock pot meals just really brought it home. No, I loved it too, because it was the entire science department. And then we had one rogue art teacher, who was like friends of all of us, I don’t know, he would always come up and eat with us.

Rebecca
But it was just and he participated he was in the rotation of crock pot meals. But it was just a really fun and simple way. So I encourage you,

Lauren
That’s like an example, his department was a lot smaller it was him and like two other women

Rebecca
And they didn’t share planning.

Lauren
And here’s a group that’s already doing that. So we felt comfortable to hop right in.

Rebecca
It was awesome. Okay, so obviously, I wanted to have you on the podcast, because you’re my best friend, I just thought it’d be fun. But the other reason I wanted to have you was because I like feel like you as a high school counselor just have a lot to offer your students but also to us as teachers. And I feel like as teachers, we often feel overwhelmed, but we don’t know who can partner with us and are overwhelmed to help these students.

Rebecca
And I feel like if I hadn’t been friends with you, I wouldn’t have been spent time in the school counseling office like I was going by there once a day because I wanted to see you but then that helped me get to know all the other people in the counseling department. And then I was able to talk to them about the students I had, and I built this relationship through because of my relationship with you.

Rebecca
But I wouldn’t necessarily done that. So I would love for you just to tell my listeners, what are one or two ways you can think of where teachers could and maybe should be partnering with counselors to make their lives easier as teachers and and just to support their students?

Lauren
Yeah, I just thought you probably gave me too much credit right there in the beginning that will like intro like, wow, you’re such a help. I hope I am. I would say, I was thinking about this ahead of time.

Lauren
This one in particular, because of that, like when you have a friend in that department and I was thinking of our counselors that I worked with, in general, when people were connected through other relationships in the school, you saw those people come down. And so whether that is they worked closely together with a classroom lesson, they just had this like background of a friendship, you saw those teachers come through the office more.

Lauren
And then you saw those teachers benefiting from the counselor services, because they were just making their faces known. And so I would say depending on how your school is laid out, your students, you might have like an overwhelm of counselors at your school, like there could be eight different counselors. And for each student, depending on where they fall in the alphabet, you can have a different person and that feels almost paralyzing.

Lauren
Like, I can’t even look up who their counselor is to call them because I’m going to use my planning to do that. If you have a counseling team that can put something together, maybe you can make a quick little cheat sheet that you can have by your phone that you could have the alphabet listing like I was CL through GA last names and my phone number right there.

Lauren
And so if you can see that breakdown, that’s a quick way to make sure that you have somebody on call to reach out to but also if there is a counselor that you just connect with, use them as a resource. Don’t feel like you have to only talk to the counselor that like works with that student. Yes, ultimately they’re going to pass them off probably just so that everyone’s workload is the same.

Lauren
And that counselor probably knows that student already. But if you already have a relationship or they’re someone you’re like, Okay, I want to be friends with that counselor. They will be a wealth of have resources to you from consulting from referrals in the school outside of the school to different community resources to emergency crisis situations.

Lauren
I mean, that is probably the last thing you want to deal with as a teacher, like a mental health crisis on a Friday afternoon as you’re walking out the door, but it happens, and you need to know who you’re going to reach out to, to handle it. Because that’s not in your scope of work.

Lauren
And it shouldn’t be, you should be giving that to the counselors who know how to do it and want to help you and help the students. So if you just go and make yourself known, introduce yourself, have a person that, you know, you can call on if you have a quick question. But also like a counselor there in the department that you can trust, so that you can help students like take something off of your plate just by having a friendship with somebody, I think.

Rebecca
Absolutely. I talked about that in my secondary science simplified course, I’m like, go over the summer, because the counselors leisurely, they’re like, when you’re cleaning out your room, just go pop your head in the counseling office, see who’s in there, bring an extra coffee just in case someone’s there just to make an introduction, put your face to a name.

Rebecca
And then that just starts that relationship. And I think sometimes we think that we’re going to be burdening counselors. And so we don’t want to like put more on your plate. But I don’t think very many teachers are taking advantage of partnering with counselors.

Rebecca
So it’s not like there’s 100 teachers going into your office all the time looking for help. And so it really does differentiate you if you’re making an effort to go to the counselor and build that relationship.

Lauren
Totally, I feel like we both win, because we’re both here to serve and help students. And we can do that better when we know each other. And then we know students better.

Rebecca
Yeah, and I feel like with students like that I’ve had behavioral issues with or discipline issues. I mean, it’s, it’s always about so much more than just me and them, it’s never really about me, it’s never really personal, they always have something else going on in their life.

Rebecca
And I think oftentimes, if there’s a behavior issue, we’re quick to be like, I’m going to call admin and get them removed, send them to ISS, whatever it may be. And it’s like, what about partnering with the counselor, and calling the counselor and seeing like, what’s going on with the student, like what may be happening.

Rebecca
I remember, me and I had a really hard time with a student at my most recent job, only come to find out like a couple of weeks later that her parents are going through a divorce. Of course, she wasn’t getting her work done. Of course, she was acting out and lashing out on me because she had all these things going on that she wasn’t equipped to handle.

Rebecca
And, you know, I wish at that school, I had had a counselor that I had a close relationship with, to partner with because I felt like I had to bear that burden on my own. So I definitely think partnering with y’all is a game changer.

Lauren
And there are there are a lot of things that we might not be able to share with teachers, like a student comes with confidentiality, and but I especially at the high school, when they have they can make some decisions on their own, I would usually ask a student, Hey, is it something you would like to share with your teachers, is this something I can share even just that you’re going through something hard, and not give details. And a lot of times, it’s like, they don’t have the words, to share it or they don’t know the right time to go up to the teacher and share that.

Lauren
But they’re like, yeah, actually, that would help if they just knew, like, give me some grace, or let me come down and talk to somebody when I need to that I mean, that makes a huge difference. So, you know, we can’t always tell you every single thing that the student has said, and you probably don’t even need to know.

Lauren
But just like you said, if you would have known like there was some turmoil going on at home, you could have offered something else or not been frustrated and think it’s totally your fault or something

Rebecca
Totally. And I feel like one of the other things that I didn’t take advantage of, and I wish I had was all the knowledge that you have as a counselor just in terms of like, mental health and self care. And not just for students, but for us as teachers.

Rebecca
And so, you know, I told you this episode is going to air like over winter break. So there are a lot of very tired overworked teachers that are going to be listening to this.

Rebecca
And I would just love to hear any advice you have just from a counselor’s perspective, or like, what are things, especially going into a new semester, that teachers maybe should stop doing in order to you know, have better boundaries, protect their own mental health, and, you know, just care for students better? I would just love to hear any advice you have on that end too.

Lauren
I’d say that you’re really good about talking about this. So I might not bring tons of new ideas to the table. And that also it’s like this delicate dance that people don’t want to hear the things about self care that they’re like so over.

Lauren
Yes, yes, I’m not going to tell you but you could do that if you want if that is your self care, but like me going and getting a manicure is relaxing. I want to be I don’t want to talk to anyone. Like the things that I have to identify for myself that energize me are being alone and recharging because you’re an introvert, I’m an extrovert, I have to force myself to go and be alone and recharge myself because I’m not going to choose that but I realize, okay, I’m drained because I haven’t spent time alone.

Lauren
So I think identifying your places that it drained you and identifying places that energize you would be a good self reflection, maybe while you’re over the holiday break the winter break, and do more of that, obviously, like, it sounds silly that I’m telling you that but unless, you know, if you’re just gonna keep Go, go, go, go, it’s so easy to do that around the holidays, I want to do the fun things I want to visit with family.

Lauren
But if you know that you need to recharge, look at your weekend plan ahead of time and say, Okay, we’re going to our in laws house for four days, I’m going to need some alone time, if I’m going to thrive there, because I can’t, I can’t do that I can’t keep that up the whole time.

Lauren
So just being self aware about your own needs, I think is important. Things that you shouldn’t be doing too. I think you talk about this a lot. But in terms of work, keeping your email off of your phone, and people have different reasons why they don’t want to do this.

Lauren
But I will tell you, it is life changing, to be able to separate work from home and not worry about that. While you’re it’s not your responsibility, you’re not getting paid extra, the emails will always be there. If you answer them, they’ll be more when you open up your computer.

Lauren
So I would say keep your email off of your phone. On that note, too. This is something that I want to say, as a counselor to teachers to consider. There are legal ramifications, I would say that you need to be aware of.

Lauren
They talk about this a lot in our ethics as school counselors about not basically not being available outside of your contract hours or making that a pattern. This is like the stuff that has gone to courts and stuff when they can look and say, Well, you usually answer your emails in the evening and you’re always available and a student emails you in crisis and you don’t respond, but you have made a pattern of responding, then you could be liable for not protecting that student or caring for them in some sort of way.

Lauren
If you’re never answering your emails outside of work hours, that’s not your responsibility. And not to say we don’t want to care for students in some way, you can put up an away message and say if this is an emergency, contact this person.

Lauren
But I have had teachers come to me with text messages from students text messages back to like a reminder app, or emails where a student might be in danger. And that is a real weight that you can feel outside of school where you have to call 911. You have to send a police officer to their house, you have to call your principal and say, Hey, this is what’s going on, I think we need to intervene.

Lauren
And that’s not anything that you want to be doing over winter break. Or when you’re on vacation in the mountains or something, I promise it’s not something you want to be doing. That’s very stressful.

Rebecca
It’s so so true. And I feel like I love what you said too, about, like not training them to know that you’re available. But also you can just flat out tell them like I just would straight up tell my students when I walk out these doors I am on unplugged from all things our school.

Rebecca
And so like if you email me if you call me if you leave a voicemail, if you put a post it note on my door like I will not see it at all. And but I tell them this is when I am available, I want you to come interupt my lunch block, I encourage you to I was okay with that you may not be but that’s where you need to figure out what’s best for you.

Rebecca
You may be fine when students come in to see you before school, I was fine with them coming after school, I said I’m always going to be here this you know, 30 to 30 to 60 minute period after school kind of tutoring the first 30 minutes and I’ll be wrapping stuff up.

Rebecca
So if you need me like this is when I’m available and letting them know, because I think that’s really important to set that boundary there too. And then like you said, it’s not like you’re, you know, not available for students, you’re just only available in a reasonable amount of ways. And if it’s a true emergency, they shouldn’t email you they should call 911.

Lauren
Yes, this is I mean, maybe this is just a public service announcement, we would always make sure in our school that teachers knew if there was a crisis in the moment like that, I’m never going to send you an email and say the student in your class is in crisis, you as a teacher should never send an email to somebody saying my student is in crisis right now.

Lauren
They said when they go home, they’re going to XYZ and hope that me as a counselor gets an email before the end of the school day, I have literally gotten an email like that, and had to go run out to the buses and find the student who I didn’t know it was like a freshman in the very beginning of the school year.

Lauren
I’m like, Okay, here’s their picture in the computer, I’m looking for this student, and like what a way to meet your counselor, like when you’ve made some threat in class, but you need somebody to know that they care and it was just such a mess.

Lauren
And so having that relationship with the counselor already, when you’re a teacher, you would go, Hey, I’m gonna I’m gonna walk the student down, I’m gonna call and say, Hey, are you available, I’m sending the student down. I really need you to talk to them.

Lauren
When you have that relationship already. It’s like, Hey, I know what I need what’s out of my scope, and I need to send this student to you please take care of it. And then as a counselor, we’re dropping everything to handle that.

Lauren
So we want to do that while we’re in the school building and not we find out about it later and can’t can’t. We all feel helpless. When that happens

Rebecca
I’m literally picturing where all the students are when they’re loading buses and you trying to like run through the masses to find someone and I feel stressed for you

Lauren
and like Oh, there goes thereby. So like, what do we do? Oh, right.

Lauren
I’m pausing this episode to let you know something fun and valuable that’s coming. Doors to the Clique Collaborative. My high school counseling membership are opening again to welcome new members on January 18.

Lauren
During the month of January, you could expect regular weekly episodes of high school counseling conversations. Plus a challenge to help get you ready for the new year. I’ll offer three live workshops throughout the month to help set you up for success as the second half of the year starts.

Lauren
Be sure you’re on the Clique Collaborative waitlist to be the first to hear of all of these plans. Go to cliquecollab.com to join the waitlist today.

Rebecca
Okay, so this is a great segue. I want to ask you, I want to ask what is like your most negative or annoying experience working with the teacher? If you’re willing to share a story of like, please don’t do this.

Rebecca
And then also like one of your best experiences partnering with a teacher and what came from it?

Lauren
Well, this person’s not gonna listen to this. So I feel okay about this. But even anonymous, yeah, totally anonymous, I would say one of the worst experiences I had was in my last year in the school that I was in, and it was working, it was working with somebody. It’s not like we like work super closely together.

Lauren
But they had a student at the school and felt like instead of, she really took on the role more as the parent, but she was in the school building towards me. And I just we just didn’t have a good relationship. And which actually, like really frustrated me and made me feel like I was not, I was not competent.

Lauren
Like I was like, I have good relationships with everyone else in the school, like, is there something going on like between us that like I didn’t notice or like that I could have done better, I was really second guessing myself and how well I could do my job. But I had to keep reminding myself that I think she had other stuff going on.

Lauren
And I don’t think it was me. I think you know, if her daughter was getting ready to graduate, I think there’s a lot of stress that comes with that being a parent, like seeing your first kid off. And so I think a lot of that stress kind of bubbled up.

Lauren
And she yelled at me, like raised her voice in the hallway. And I was so embarrassed. No, there was one person who walked by, but it was what it was a traumatizing experience for me. Like I was like, Okay, I guess I’ve like been yelled at by like some angry parents before, but to have somebody who is a co worker do that.

Lauren
Like it just really hurt my feelings. What do I do? Do I tell someone do if that’s something like I just I want to be able to work peacefully like with co workers and be be coworkers first. And also, like, be a good coworker to you and be able to serve your family and your student.

Lauren
The whole time I was trying to like de escalate it. Like, I hear what you’re saying. I’m trying to understand, like, you know, I’m like using counseling skills as happening. And at the same time, I was like, I don’t think anything I’m going to say is going to make this better.

Lauren
And so maybe that’s words of wisdom for anybody working with coworkers. It’s like sometimes people just have their own stuff going on. And they’re not going to hear you no matter how calm you are, no matter how many different solutions you offer.

Lauren
You know, I was offering solution after solution or like ways we could work together to solve this problem that I didn’t even know was a problem. And I wasn’t gonna get it right. Like in that moment, nothing was going to be right.

Lauren
And we just, I don’t remember how it ended. We like parted ways. I walked around the corner and my clerk in the office saw me and I just started crying and I don’t cry very often in general. Yes, especially at work. I was like I and then I was double embarrassed, like one that that happened.

Lauren
But two that I’m crying. And it’s like, I never want to relive that. Again. I never want to have that experience with a co worker again, like we’re on the same team, can we please be on the same team? So an example of like, not working well with a teacher or to work with me

Rebecca
Well it’s so hard for me to imagine? Because I feel like you’re super positive. And then you’re also just really laid back and easygoing. Like you’re not a person that brings conflict out of people.

Rebecca
So it’s crazy for me to even imagine it happening. Also, I just laugh because we are so opposite. I I’ve cried at work so many times. I’m like, Has everyone seen me cry?

Rebecca
Like I I’m a crier. Like I just emote. If anyone raises their voice at me. I’m going to start crying. So I would have been crying in the moment.

Lauren
I paniced in the moment like I was very blindsided that it happened. I was really walking back to my office and like there she was like, Oh, you’re angry. Oh, I didn’t expect that.

Rebecca
Did you ever follow up?

Lauren
No. after that. I was like, I want a paper trail of every conversation we have, you know, in case you’re going to be angry. worry about something because I think she was angry about something that I don’t remember what it was about.

Lauren
But I thought if we can, if I can be clear in what she needs help with, and I can say this is how I’m helping and have her clear expectations right now. And I thought at least, we could move forward from there.

Lauren
And it was. I mean, it was first semester. So I guess we had to like see each other a little bit. But again, she was like, on the other side of the school, it’s not like we ran into each other or ran in the same circle. So like, physically, I didn’t have to see her that much.

Lauren
And I just made sure that I actually talked to the student a lot more like I was like, the student was very pleasant. We had a good relationship. So I was like, well, I’ll just work with you. If you have questions, please come to me.

Rebecca
Right? Well, I think you still did the right thing of like, when you’re dealing with a volatile coworker, or a parent of a student, just, I love that you asked lots of questions you were trying to deescalate the situation. And like you were trying to ask, like, what do you want from me?

Rebecca
Like, do you want me to offer solutions? Or do you want me just to like, hear, like, I’m here for you. And then you offered solutions that she didn’t take them. And then instead of just still like, pushing, you’re just like, I’m gonna remove myself from the situation, because

Lauren
I don’t think I like walked away. Like, you know, like, I’m just not listening to you anymore.

Rebecca
But it wasn’t like One Tree Hill where every argument they’ve ever had on One Tree Hill, it just like they just in the middle of the argument, they just like remove.

Rebecca
And I remember watching that when I was dating my now husband and being like, I can’t imagine in an argument like just in the middle of it, just just stepping back and walking away. And like, just letting the dramatic music play never happened.

Lauren
I mean, if it would have been dramatic music, there would have been a soundtrack to this conversation. So if anyone was watching, no one was really interesting. So if they would have it was terrible.

Rebecca
I’m sorry you experience that! So anyone listening, don’t yell at a counselor or coworker in the hallway.

Lauren
I was like, are we adults? Let’s talk like adults come on.

Rebecca
Also, I feel like if you are ever a part of a conflict, where you do damage to another person, like oftentimes out of the conflict, I know that I can do this, like, when I have space, I realized like that I shouldn’t have done that. Right. Like humble yourself and apologize, I thought that makes a big difference.

Lauren
I have been a part of like, I remember in particular, you know, this administrator, I was in a meeting one time with this administrator, and it wasn’t towards me. But he was getting heated, I could tell he was getting frustrated with a parent that was in the meeting.

Lauren
And he and the parent must have had some beef. And they were kind of starting to raise their voices at each other. And then after the next day, I didn’t think anything of it. I was like, people get mad as whatever. And the meeting was over. But the next day, he came to my office and he apologized.

Lauren
He was like, I’m sorry, you had to see me that way. I reached out to the parent, and I apologize, but I wanted to apologize to you in case that made you feel uncomfortable, or really awkward, and you didn’t want to be there anymore. And I thought, Wow, what a humble leader.

Lauren
He is like, you know, essentially over me too. And he was a leader in that meeting, to come back later and say, Hey, I know you weren’t even really involved. I don’t know if you felt this way. But I want to make sure that I apologize for the tone that I had. And the the things that I said, it’s like, wow, I really appreciate that.

Rebecca
I love that he did. Okay, so now let’s talk about a positive experience. He had partnered with a teacher so that we can end this on a positive note,

Lauren
Please, please. I would say the most it’s just maybe like, in a general, there were so many great teachers that I worked with at this school. And I would say the best ones were the ones who were just open to our counseling services.

Lauren
So whether that was letting us come in the classroom to do a lesson, having an open door of communication to say, hey, my students are really struggling with this is do you have a resource that can help with this?

Lauren
Ones that we’re flexible. I know, that’s really hard for teachers to be flexible, they’re flexible all the time with fire drills and state testing and the PSAT. And career day, you know, there’s so many things that you’re already having to give up your teaching time for.

Lauren
But the best teachers see when their student has a need, and they’re okay with them, honestly, like missing class for a little bit to work on those skills. So if I had an anger management group or a grief small group, I would tell teachers, hey, we’re gonna they’re gonna miss 20 minutes.

Lauren
Not tell them, but ask permission, but they’re gonna miss 20 minutes from your class once a week. And I’m going to do that in this class and a different one. So it’s not 40 minutes from your class, but they’re going to be working on skills, so that when they come to your class, they can focus because I don’t know if you know, but their mom just died of cancer.

Lauren
And so if they can have a place to process that they can come to your class ready to work. And when you as a counselor, when I would explain that value to teachers. All of a sudden, they’d be like, Oh, okay, that makes sense. They’re not missing my class to go play computer games or something.

Lauren
I don’t you know, it’s not useless. It is it’s actually purposeful. And the best teachers are understanding of that. And, like, let me do my job so that you can do your job. And then students are better focused and have better skills to work in your class.

Rebecca
I love that, I think, yeah, there’s just so many things that you guys offer that I know that I didn’t take as full advantage of as I could have. And so I’m all about like, encouraging other teachers to do that. Because, yeah, I mean, our students need those skills.

Rebecca
And I think now that I’m an actual parent of children, that will be students, I’m like man, and I want my students to have that whole experience, like if they need to miss part of biology class to work on, you know, anger management skills, it because they need that, then I want them there, you know, that’s the most important thing so that they’re a whole, well rounded human being.

Lauren
I hate to say this, but I knew the teachers in the school who, when I knocked on their door, they would make a big deal that I was there, like, I was interrupting their class, and I was a burden. But on the other hand, I knew the teachers who were very welcoming and who, like had a smile on their face, when I came to the door, I wasn’t a burden to interrupt, because I was going to help them or a student in some way.

Lauren
And it’s really, I hate that there are people who I already have that assumption about, but you know, when you work alongside someone for years, and years, if they’re constantly acting like, they don’t want to talk to you, like, I’m gonna avoid them.

Lauren
And I’m gonna go with the people who are easier to work with. So not that that means I’m going to interrupt your class all the time, but you’re probably going to get more services for your students if you’re an easier person to work with. I hate to say that, but I think it’s true.

Rebecca
I mean, it is true.

Rebecca
Okay, so I want to make sure we kind of touched on this earlier. But I want to know if you have anything else say about any tips for listeners who are just looking for how they can rest and recharge over break while they have time off?

Rebecca
And then also what about when we get back to school? And you know, we have work, but we also have kids and life responsibilities, like how do we rest and recharge, and not just live for our time off?

Lauren
Yeah, that’s a great question. You can set some boundaries around things for yourself. So when I get ready for bed at night, I have the sleep, you know, little notification pop up that says, powering down your apps.

Lauren
And at least that’s a trigger for me to go, Okay, I need to like slow down on scrolling Instagram, because that’s not quieting my brain down for the night, I need to do that if I want to get good sleep, because I know good sleep is gonna make me a more energized and better parent tomorrow.

Lauren
Like I have to think they’re all connected to each other. And it starts with little habits. I am very into like habit building right now. Because that’s very hard for me to do you love it. It’s hard for me. So it’s something I really have to practice.

Lauren
And when you have a time away from work, give yourself that space to start practicing some habits, you’ve always wanted to whether that is going to bed earlier or waking up earlier for that quiet time before your house wakes up, realize what is draining to you and what’s life giving.

Lauren
So I want my kitchen to be reset when I go to bed at night like the countertops cleaned off, it just alleviates this stress that I feel I don’t want to start my next day already feeling like chaotic, burdened by what I didn’t do the day before, like I can, we can talk about this, but I’m very into lazy genius principles right now. Like what can I do right now that’s gonna make my life easier later.

Lauren
Yeah, what can I do right now that’s gonna make my life easier later. And it might be two minutes of doing something to prep that makes my life easier. And so I’d say notice what some of those habits are for you. And use a time off of school to start nurturing those and getting them like as part of your daily routine.

Rebecca
I think that’s great, I think to like when thinking in the classroom to even just having like, I had a post it note on my desk. And it was like, these are three things I need to do before I leave the classroom so that I can come in here tomorrow and not feel like you said like I’m starting in chaos.

Rebecca
And it doesn’t necessarily mean I have to have every single thing graded before I walk out the door. But like for me, I’m definitely going to make sure that I’ve you know, all the tables are cleared off my desk is organized. I’ve I’ve reset the whiteboard where I kept my agenda, like that’s ready for the next day.

Rebecca
And I like to have my you know, my bell ringers ready for noon the next morning, so that’d be like the very first thing, but even just making a small list like that of like, what are the things I need to just do right now, like you said, like, so that then you can go into downtime, like I have the same thing on my phone has to shut down so that I can start actually falling asleep is I had to quiet all that other stuff first.

Lauren
Yeah, I would also say if you especially if you’re not an organized person, I’m going to show you this on the video right now. I have started doing an ideal week, like a time audit of my week. And so I start and I put them you can do this on the Google Calendar.

Lauren
You could do it physically writing it down, but I start with the things that are non negotiables like I have to drop off my kids at this Time. If I have appointments, I have to be there at this time or leave my house at this time. And then I work in the other things, yes. And then I work in the other things.

Lauren
And instead of putting work on there, I put the tasks that I want to accomplish during this chunk of time. And so it helps me feel more accomplished and actually helps me step away from work easier, because I’m like, Look, I did what I was supposed to do before writing down this time audit, I would always feel like there was more to do.

Lauren
And this has been able to help me rest outside of work, because I checked off the three things that there is always more to do. And I recognize that, but I can rest when I’m away from it, because I have more time tomorrow in that chunk of time for the next three tasks. So that has really helped me.

Rebecca
I love that I love to see using a chart just makes my heart so happy.

Lauren
Like I haven’t taken secondary science simplified, but I’m sure I’m using some of those time tasks. And I’m getting more organized because of being your friend.

Rebecca
I love. I love a chart. Okay, so this kind of leads to our second to last question, because then I gotta do my last last question that I always do. But you had this idea. And I’m excited to hear what you have to say.

Rebecca
And I’m excited to say what I have to say. But I want to know the three things that are saving your life right now. Where did you get this idea from by the way?

Lauren
Lazy genius has done a podcast episode every once in a while and I think she got it from someone else where she does a whole episode of what things that are saving my life right now. I don’t know if she does five or 10 or what?

Lauren
And I think about this question often. I don’t know why. I think it’s, I think I have what you would call an addictive personality. So I find something I like and then everybody is gonna know about it. And everybody’s gonna know I’m obsessed with it right now.

Rebecca
You’re just a natural influencer, like you’re just influential like you. That’s just who you are.

Lauren
Even friends in my neighborhood. I’m like, Listen, this is the book I’m reading right now. And I texted five people. As I’m laying in bed. I’m like, you have to read this book right now.

Lauren
I’m like, I’m on page 20. And it’s changing my life. So that’s not in my list because I have a million things. Do you want to go me all three and then you all three are back and forth?

Rebecca
I don’t know. What do you want to do?

Lauren
Okay, I’ll tell you my first one. Okay. skorts

Rebecca
Skorts are saving your life?!

Lauren
Skorts are saving my life right now, because we have talked about this. It’s like, I feel like I have a uniform of clothes, things that I’m realizing Okay, I like wearing this. I’m comfortable in this. I really want to minimize my decision fatigue every day.

Lauren
And so I thought if I go back to working in a school, I mean, one I can’t I’m not gonna wear a skort. I’m not like a PE teacher or like an administrator who can pull that off running around. Sporty Spice in the counselor’s office.

Lauren
I’m really not sporty. This is why this is kind of funny to begin with. I’m not sporty, but I’m like, Okay, I want to be comfortable. So I have been I’ve been ordering skorts from Amazon. Amazon like try before you buy I’m like, like this fit don’t like this style. Need more pleats need less please. Like I’m I’m on the quest to find the perfect skort right now.

Lauren
So I you know, I can I can share that with you. If you decide you’re gonna go Sporty Spice lifestyle, but I’m loving skorts right now. Just ultimate comfort, easy to pull out of my drawer and put on never wrinkly,

Rebecca
A little more put together.

Lauren
It’s like my put together uniform.

Rebecca
Well, it’s funny that you said that. Skores are not fitting my life right now. But you mentioned decision fatigue. And one of the things I thought of when I thought three things saving my life was deciding once, which is a lazy genius thing you got me on the lazy genius also, but just deciding something once and then that just is what it is.

Rebecca
And I know it sounds overly simplified. But it really does save so much mental energy to not go back and forth on a decision and and you waste so much energy doing that. And it’s applying to so many areas of my life right now. But one of the ways I’ve decided once is for our family is just with groceries.

Rebecca
And I’ve decided once that Thursdays are the day that I put together my like online grocery pickup order from Walmart, and then Fridays are the day that I pick up the groceries. And you know, I wash the fruit and I do all those things because we like to have a stocked fridge going into the weekend.

Rebecca
And if we are going to run out of food, we’d rather get takeout on a Thursday night. Like, you know, when we’re already tired from the work week than if I get groceries on a Monday, and then we’re running out of food on Saturday, Sunday, and we’re getting taught getting takeout on a Sunday type thing.

Rebecca
So just deciding once and I still don’t like grocery ordering, I still don’t like meal planning. But before it was something that always loomed over me, like okay, I need to like sit down and like plan out meals for next week.

Rebecca
But now it’s like I don’t even think about it six days of the week. And then on Thursday, it’s one of the things like Okay, on Thursday before I go to bed, I’m going to sit down. I’ve decided once I’m going to plan the meals for next week, and then I’ll go order all the groceries and then I already you know, you have to pick a time to pick up.

Rebecca
So that holds me accountable on Friday to actually get the groceries because I have to pick them up between, you know my time slot of three to 4pm or whatever. And that has really, really taken a lot of the burden out of my mind. I feel like I have four and a half brain cells right now. You know, postpartum.

Lauren
You don’t want to have three and a half.

Rebecca
I cannot sacrifice a brain cell for meal planning. So yes, deciding once has helped me so much.

Lauren
Okay, my next one is food related. So I’ll transition into that. Okay. I like making a dessert at the beginning of the week. So I have dessert to snack on and have potentially after lunch during the day when I need to pick me up definitely after dinner.

Lauren
And so for example, I make the Ghiradelli brownies. I think it’s like the triple chocolate when that’s available or double chocolate you know if that’s if that’s all my grocery pickup allows for. And then I melt Andes mints on the top of it.

Rebecca
That’s from naptime kitchen, isn’t it?

Lauren
It is it is. And but the idea that I have this like delicious dessert waiting for me is, I don’t know, I always have to have something sweet. I need to have it on hand if I don’t. I’m like What am I I mean, we got to go out and get ice cream.

Lauren
I’m like, so this is saving time, money, energy, and I’ve got a dessert waiting for me. I’ve been doing that a lot of weeks and it makes everyone in my house happy. They’re so excited about it.

Rebecca
That sounds so good. Okay, well my second thing is also food related. So I will piggyback you, we didn’t even plan list but these haven’t told each other these are paralleling so well. But mine and I’ve talked about this for months. And you know, you’re like, please, you’ve heard me talk about this, but haven’t talked about it on this podcast.

Rebecca
Snack tray. Okay, so snack tray, especially a snack tray dinner. Okay, so what I mean by this, if you’re listening is we just eat snacks for dinner, and we put them on a tray. It’s exactly how it sounds. And this is one of my favorite things to do on Thursday nights.

Rebecca
Knowing that we’re running out of groceries, like going into Friday is I will literally get a tray out and I have one of those like travel platters that has like five compartments. But you can literally just get like a cutting board. And then I just put piles of different snacks and like leftovers that we have, and we put it all together.

Rebecca
And it’s it’s basically like a snack charcuterie board. But it’s not just like meat, fruit, cheese and nuts. It’s literally whatever we have left from the week. So like the last few blueberries we have, or if we have like one apple, I will slice it up into a bunch of little pieces.

Rebecca
And then, you know, we have a couple of you know, a couple slices of pork tenderloin that we had last night for dinner. Like I’ll cut those up and put them on. And then I put a blanket on the floor for my kids and they have an indoor picnic.

Lauren
They think you are the most fun mom.

Rebecca
And it minimizes dishes because just like the one tray a I love that it clears out like all of the like last little bits of food before we’re about to get new food. And then it just frees my husband and I up like we can eat some leftovers too.

Rebecca
Or we can you know, grab something frozen out of the freezer that our kids don’t necessarily like or, you know, just something easy, but it’s it’s saving my life because my kids think I’m so fun. It’s helping me not waste food. And yeah, at the end of the week, I’m like done by Thursday.

Rebecca
I’m very, very exhausted by Thursday night and it just makes it again decide once like Thursday night we’re doing this for dinner. And it’s just something I don’t want to think about and it makes my life so much easier.

Lauren
I do that but I put it in a muffin tin a lot.

Rebecca
Oh yes. We’ve done that before too. But sometimes I have too much for the whole and so then just like an actual but I love that I did to just using Yeah, like your your 12 hole muffin tin. That’s a great idea too. That’s perfect. Hit me with your last one.

Lauren
Okay, my last one you’re gonna love. I think it’s probably going to be saving your life too. There is a new season of Survivor on right now.

Rebecca
We love survivor.

Lauren
I love the cast right now. If you’re a survivor fan, you know what I’m talking about? They are they’ve got fun stories. I don’t know who’s gonna be the villain yet. If you’re not on the survivor train, I’m here to tell you we’re leaving the station. It’s time to get on because I have rallied.

Lauren
We have a group text and we’re talking about survivor as it’s coming on. It is the if you’re a millennial, and you’re like why remember Richard Hatch from season one when I was in fifth or sixth grade?

Lauren
It’s a different game. Now if you’ve got to get into this go watch on Amazon Prime and catch up. If you’re like where do I start? There are what 40 This is 43 season 43

Rebecca
I always tell people started episode 20.

Rebecca
The first 20 are almost like archaic in nature and they don’t fit

Lauren
your TV screen at that point either. 20 is a really good season to start with because it’s like the best characters from those first seasons and then work your way up. I started when I was on maternity leave with my first daughter and y’all I watched a lot of Survivor during that time.

Lauren
I’d watched one season during the day when my husband was at work and then we’d watch one a different one together in the evening. And we watched we’ve seen them all it is a fun thing to do together with friends or your spouse or partner.

Rebecca
It’s clean, like you don’t have to worry about, it’s not like Game of Thrones or something. We’re, but I love that too. And by the time this airs, I bet the current season might be over. But they could go back and watch it.

Rebecca
I remember, like, I’ve watched every season of Survivor literally since I was a child. And like when I was in college, my mom would record on VHS is the survivors so that when I came home, I could watch them. That’s how like, long survivors been around. And I love that.

Lauren
It used to be you and my mom, who were the only people I knew who I survivor. And I would view and my mom and then just as new wave came through is a new fandom. I didn’t realize so many people,

Rebecca
I think COVID helped because there wasn’t any sports. And so that’s what got my husband on board because now he watches me now because you didn’t watch it before you would kind of like if I had it on he would listen but he wasn’t that engaged with it.

Rebecca
But now he watches with me. And one of our favorite things is if someone is visiting us from out of town and like staying the night, we will make them watch Survivor with us.

Lauren
For the evening, yes,

Rebecca
They’re we’ve made disciples of Survivor

Lauren
I’ve never told someone to watch Survivor and they watched it and they’re like, I hate this. They’d become fans for life. I love that it’s so true. So we’re gonna learn your listeners into survivor fans, all of them.

Rebecca
Well, my last thing that saving my life, and this is going to this is this is as unrelated as skorts. But, and you’re gonna be freaked out. But it’s beef liver enzymes. Okay, let me tell you how beef liver enzymes are saving my life.

Lauren
You’re really going to have to win me over on this because, okay, I don’t this doesn’t seem like something I would care about.

Rebecca
Okay, so you know, but the listeners may not know, I have a lot of stomach problems postpartum. And it’s happened, you know, my second and third children are both biological my first adopted so after both of my last two children, this has happened.

Rebecca
And it’s just like, my body can’t figure out how to work again, after all, my organs have been shoved up into my ribcage for nine months. So I always have to do like kind of like a whole 30 type cleanse, and I just, I just have a hard time and I have a really hard time regaining energy.

Rebecca
It’s like my body doesn’t know how to like pull energy from food and keep me energized. And then when I do these cleanses, I can’t have coffee. And so anyway, long story short, I have done science experiment upon science experiment in my body to figure out like, what do I need supplement wise to like, help my body feel good.

Rebecca
And I’ve tried every type of like trendy vitamin provider. And I’ve tried all the different multivitamins, all these different things. And beef liver enzymes..

Lauren
Where do you get those?

Rebecca
Amazon, duh? You know, I would not try anything, I couldn’t prime and then return at the UPS store with, you know, without repackaging.

Lauren
But could you return this, if you didn’t like those you used? And then you send them back? No,

Rebecca
I haven’t tried. But I feel like I have such a good relationship with ups and Amazon at this point that they would let me say that I didn’t need to return because I was in love him so much.

Rebecca
But basically, you can do a lot of research into it, but your liver is an organ that you know, is processing a lot of these things. And so livers, beef liver, you know, specifically is really, really concentrated with a lot of the vitamins that we need. And so the best source would be to actually eat and cook an actual, like, cow’s liver.

Rebecca
But since most people can’t stomach that, because it’s extremely irony, in taste, then they’ve now they found ways to kind of like dehydrate it. Obviously, anytime you dehydrate anything and put it into like a pill form, it’s going to lose some of the nutrients, but it’s still, like you’re getting like 2,000% of like the vitamin K you need in these little capsules.

Rebecca
Long story short, I’m not going to like you know, give you a sermon on beef liver, you can Google it yourself, and I think it’s called like ancestral supplements

Lauren
Link in the show notes for the people who do want to try the link in the show notes.

Rebecca
Not an affiliate link. So I don’t get any kickback for you taking beef liver, but it really has its I’m not you cannot take it at night. I used to take all my vitamins at night because it gives me an upset stomach. So I take it at night so I could sleep after these wake you up.

Rebecca
And so I had to take him in the morning, but it’s been awesome, especially since I haven’t had coffee in the last month or so. So it’s just like I got my I drink my little cup of tea and I got my beef liver enzymes and I’m ready to rock for the day and it doesn’t upset my stomach that again.

Rebecca
That’s what my problem is. Yeah, I’ve been I’ve been loving it. I feel good and like our quality of life. It sounds like yes, my nails and my hair are all really good too. I’m not having to take like an additional collagen supplement or anything like that, like I used to.

Rebecca
So I’m here for the beef liver enzymes. Okay, there we go. So let’s bring it back into the topic of this podcast for anyone who is still hanging into this conversation with us. And I got to ask you my final question.

Rebecca
I always ask all my guests one way you’ve simplified your life recently and I know you’ve said things that are saving your life but like make it specific for the name of the podcast secondary science simplified, one It it have you simplified in your life recently that’s changed your life?

Lauren
Yeah, I’ll tell you something I did this weekend to simplify my life. I used to lazy genius principles I batched. And I did something that would make my life easier later, I made muffins, tons of different buffets, two different types, but lots of bagged them, put them in the freezer, because my kids will well, one of them will eat them for breakfast.

Lauren
So when our mornings are hectic, I pull one of those muffins out of the freezer nook into the microwave for 20 seconds and breakfast is ready. And I don’t have to think twice, like I know that my kid is going to eat it, we’re not going to have a meltdown.

Lauren
And I’ve prepared that for weeks. I mean, they will be in there for as long as I keep them in there. And it might take a few minutes. But if I’m making one batch anyway, I might as well make two batches and then pull things out of the freezer. I know you’re a big freezer meal proponent the freezer, yes, yes.

Lauren
And same now that I’m like getting into that I’m realizing hey, these are ways to simplify my life. And so if it’s going to take a little bit of extra time to save me some mental energy or decision fatigue later, I’m going to do it. So that’s what are that feel like saving my life but also simplifying my life.

Rebecca
Well I feel like it truly is like five extra minutes on the front end to chop an extra onion and you know, freeze the diced onion or to make an extra to double that muffin recipes that you can freeze it or whatever.

Rebecca
But then on the front end, yeah, you’re maybe saving 30 minutes on like being able to pull dinner out and then just throw it in the oven. But it’s also like you said, it’s a mental energy that you save, like all day, you’re tired at school, and you’re thinking like, oh my gosh, I like need to rally to cook dinner when I get home.

Rebecca
And we still got to bathe the kids and done it. But it’s like no, like, one of the things I know is off my plate, like I get tickled knowing like, oh, tonight’s dinner, we just like pull it out of the freezer, and it’ll be ready to go.

Rebecca
And I can just let it bake for an hour while I do the kids baths or you know why we while we you know, send someone off the flag football practice, or whatever it may be.

Lauren
I’ll say I don’t have like a big extra freezer, like in my garage or anything like that, like I make it work with what I have as part of my fridge freezer combo, and which causes me to look in there and use what I have and constantly be like changing things out.

Lauren
And I just didn’t do that earlier in life enough. Like I would think I’m single, I’m the only one eating the chili I’ve prepared and now I have to eat it for 15 meals and that I would be like I’m just not going to make chili and I love chili.

Lauren
So if I would have taken some of these principles before were just freeze it and then eat it, you know, a month later. And I think my past self because my life is easier and more simplified.

Rebecca
Yes, my sister is single and I sent her those super cubes. And so then she does that she’ll like make her crock pot meals or whatever, which feed like an army. And then she’ll freeze them in the Super cubes. And then she’s like, been so tickled. It’s been fun.

Rebecca
I gave it to her like a couple months ago. And still at least once a week I get a text from her. Because she works. She’s a doctor and she’ll text me from you know, work and be like, Look at my Tikka Masala or whatever I’m eating for lunch because I just pulled it out of the freezer.

Rebecca
I’m just so happy that this is what I’m eating for lunch as opposed to like Coke and something from the cafeteria. Exactly. So love it. I love it.

Lauren
Do you do you share something about simplifying your life right now usually, or it’s just a guest?

Rebecca
I don’t normally but I you know, I always could one thing that simplify my life right now this is gonna sound so silly. But and this was from lazy genius, which you got me on the lazy genius train. But I rearranged my closet, I used to have it color coordinated, because that’s who I am.

Rebecca
But I rearranged it now into categories. So there’s a category of like clothes that I would wear to church or to like, you know, any sort of social event like going on a date. And then I have like my everyday uniform clothes, like I’m wearing the same thing pretty much every day in a different derivation that’s in the middle.

Rebecca
And then the far right is like layering pieces like sweatshirts or sweaters you put on top of any of the other categories. And it makes it so much easier to walk in and be like I’m only looking at this one narrow section and or I’m only looking at this section.

Rebecca
And that’s really simplified my decision fatigue in the mornings too. And I was like forgetting about certain things I had because they were getting lost in the color coordination like you know, sleeveless ..

Lauren
I can see that because my is colored right now color coordinated for the most part and I can see that how I miss things all the time.

Rebecca
Yeah, and our cause it’s really tiny we we share, it’s you could say it’s a walk in closet, but it’s like a step into it closet and we share it and so everything’s pretty squished together.

Rebecca
But I’m excited because we’re building a new house and in the new house, I’ll have more of an L so I’m actually gonna like put them on different sides of the closets that way, it’s gonna get even more simple, even more simple. I cannot wait.

Rebecca
I love to talk to my husband about all the systems of already, you know, brainstormingfor the house.

Lauren
Like cool glad that’s working for you, I may literally like all benefit from it in some way.

Rebecca
No, no, he’s like, please stop. I’m exhausted. I keep telling him. I’m so excited. We’re gonna have our own closets for the first time. And I can’t wait to pick up all all his things off the floor and put them in his robe and unlock the door.

Lauren
It’s gonna be a mess.

Rebecca
I don’t care because I’m not going in there!

Rebecca
Well, seriously, thank you so much for coming. I mean, this has been our dream is to have a podcast together where we can just talk about all of our thoughts and feelings, but I hope we made it relevant enough for my listeners that they will listen and enjoy this that I loved our time together.

Lauren
This is perfect. They’re really going to enjoy it, I think as something that is easy to listen to over their winter break and maybe give them some things to think about to simplify their lives and work with their counselor as they head back into the new semester.

Rebecca
Yes, I loved it. Well, thanks Lauren.

Lauren
Doors are opening my high school counseling membership, the Clique Collaborative on January 18. Mark your calendar, put that date in the back of your mind January 18.

Lauren
Make sure you’re signed up for the waitlist at cliquecollab.com That’s C L I Q UE C O L L A B.com Because I’ll be sending out some fun stuff that counselor clique has going on in January as soon as you get back from winter break.

Lauren
Enjoy some time off of school and I’ll see you next week.

Lauren
Thanks for listening to today’s episode of high school counseling conversations. All of the links I talked about today can be found in the show notes and also at counselorclique.com/podcast. Be sure to hit follow or subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast so that you never miss a new episode. Connect with me over on Instagram, send me a DM @counselorclique. That’s C-L-I-Q-U-E. Thanks so much for hanging out with me. I’ll see you next time.