Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School
Finding Your Focus and Joy Within Covid Restrictions Guide for Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School
Missing friends, trouble engaging with virtual school and work formats, feeling the blues?
Some of us are tempted to dwell and brood on our losses, failures, things we can no longer do with Covid restrictions in place. Maybe you feel anxious about things you can not control.
This guide includes:
-Perspectives and exercises to combat negative thinking by replacing with positive thinking
-Lifestyle and self-care practices that promote physical and mental health
-Methods to help organize priorities and choose exciting long-term goals, and make motivation
-Tips for staying focused and avoiding distracting temptations during work times
Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School Positive Thinking Strategies
I propose we can find joy and success by focusing on what we do have, what we can do, rather than what we can’t, and asking ourselves “What is really important to me?”
Make a Gratitude list and review it every morning and at night before going to bed. These are things that you already have that you may not often pause to consider and take for granted. Click below to see a menu to get you started. You can click the words in red “Gratitude List” to open these in a new tab, or click download if you want to save a copy.
What are some positive, healthy thoughts we can make about living with covid restrictions?
The bonus of restricted options; while there are some things I can’t do right now, this leaves time for what I can do, makes it easier to decide since I have less options, what are some things I always wanted to do and may now have time and energy for?
Starting a new hobby, learning a new skill, organizing my space, painting a room, writing a book, building something, an opportunity to heal past traumas, starting an exercise routine, meditation?
Recognizing my ideas about the state of the world do not have to dictate the state of me and how I behave, I am free to behave as I choose, in accordance with what I think is right, and I alone am responsible for what I do, think, say, and feel.
Spiritual exploration and growth- seeking your best answers to “why am I here?”
Explore your values and consider what is most important to you. Below is a menu of possible values and goals. Choose which are important to you, then order your list by priority, from most to least important. You may realize some of the things you were giving a lot of time to or missing are not actually what the things most important to you. This will also help you decide how to spend your time and energy in the future.
Read this metaphor as an introduction to how you can begin noticing negative thoughts and replacing them with the positive.
Then try this list of rational, or reasonable, and irrational, or not reasonable thoughts to help yourself from caught up in thoughts that likely are not even true.
Great. Now you are ready to learn the categories of thinking errors. These will help you detect unwanted and incorrect thinking patterns. Your thoughts are very powerful, they create your experience and feelings. If you can begin correcting unwanted and inaccurate thoughts, you will be using your smart brain in smarter ways, making yourself smarter, and you will get to feel the way you want more often. Check out the thinking error list below, then try the practice, and finally use the thought record. Get ready to lose your student loss of joy and motivation for school by changing your thoughts about yourself and school.
The building confidence document above is a quick exercise in accounting and recognizing all the things you already have done and are doing. Below is a list of affirmations to calm fears and create a sense of safety and security. Some people like to choose or modify one to memorize and use as a mantra for self-soothing or meditation.
Lifestyle and Self-care Strategies
These involve creating a practice, a regular routine, to nurture a healthy mind and body. Developing the thoughts and mental states you prefer, replacing negativity, anxiety, depressive symptoms, with renewed energy, your sense of peace and security, your hope, confidence, and happiness. If you want things to change, you likely will need to change what you are doing. It doesn’t have to be all at once. A mile is walked one small step at a time. It’s okay to start small, so feel free to just try small manageable steps.
You may not know what might work, until you have experimented with a new behavior for a few weeks. You may need to try some things that don’t work for you before finding what does. This is okay. If you are not getting results from trying one thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t do it right, it doesn’t mean you are a loser. Choose to say that you are not a loser, you are a learner. And you just got one step closer to finding what does work for you by eliminating an option.
You may find yourself thinking and thinking. Hmmm. What is the right thing that I should do? Your thinking alone will not give you this answer. You will need to try a guess and act on it to find out. I had a young man tell me just yesterday, “It feels like a blind leap.” Yes. You may need to push through your doubts, uncertainty, and fear, trying something anyway. Every time you do this, even if it doesn’t do for you what you hoped, you will find yourself feeling a greater freedom across your life.
Other care– being of service. When you do for others, whether its for the poor, the elderly, the young, or for dogs or cats, being of service teaches us the value we have to offer and helps us feel our value and see the evidence as proof that we are indeed valuable and have something to offer. It ends up being selflessly selfish. The internet will have lists of volunteering and service opportunities in your area. You can also be of service to friends or family, or at an animal shelter. You can also encourage others or make them smile over the internet, and keep your eyes open as you walk through life for any chance to help someone else or brighten your day. The light you shine will illuminate you.
Minimize the amount of disturbing news you expose yourself to. Garbage in, garbage out. The media tends to cater to your fears, arousing and maintaining them, to keep you glued to the set in order to keep your relationship with the threat. I liked to read the paper in my 20’s. It seemed as though World War III or nuclear holocaust was about to erupt in the Middle East any day. I found myself developing an apocalyptic worldveiw. We’re doomed! So I quit reading the paper. Instead I looked around, saw the gentle wind caressing the trees, sunshine, blue sky, flowers blooming, children laughing and playing. And guess what? The world didn’t end. Now I’m 55, and 30 years later, the papers and media still whisper, or shout, these dark and scary ideas. And right now, they still are not true. We are okay.
Regular play for fun- Yes play and fun are essential!
Regular social contacts
Regular sleep– I can’t say enough about the importance of this one. If this is a problem, consider taking proper sleep on first. Without this, it may be unlikely anything will work as well as could be possible. Student loss of joy and motivation for school would be expected if they can’t sleep decently! If you exercise vigorously daily you may sleep better. You can try melatonin, that’s safe. You can try shutting off screens an hour before bedtime. All that light tricks the brain into thinking it’s day and to stay awake. They do make apps that dim the screen light on your device to reduce these sleep defying qualities. Go to bed and get up at the same time daily if you can. This helps your body develop a rhythm and your brain to actually produce the chemicals that put you to sleep naturally at the time you normally go to bed. You can initiate a sleep study through your primary care physician to identify and treat issues that interfere with sleep. There are also apps that monitor sleep quality from your breathing sounds and generate a report so you can determine if a person is indeed having sleep issues and what they are.
https://www.lifehack.org/816199/best-sleep-tracker
Sleep hygiene- a list of practices that enhance sleep especially for people who tend to be restless such as folks with ADHD or Autism. The sleep script is a relaxation process for putting yourself to sleep.
Regular exercise. Did you know that studies show that regular exercise, usually a minimum of 25 minutes of aerobic exercise is as equally effective as any pill you can take for anxiety or depression? And look at the side-effects; stronger, more energy, better sleep, longer life, smarter brain, better feelings!
What else do you do for self-care? Hobby, … special interest, method of checking out and recharging?
Caregiver Stress Inventory- If you are a caregiver and feeling overwhelmed, confused, anxious, exhausted, or inadequate, or numb, check yourself using the inventory below. You know the saying, if the plane starts going down and the oxygen masks drop, put yours on first! How can you fully and best care for someone else if you don’t care for yourself properly?
Meditation– If this has not been your practice, here are a few things I want you to know. One, as little as five minutes of mediation have been shown to lower heart rate and other physiological signs of arousal and distress for up to 4-5 hours. That’s a great return on a small investment.
Two, meditation means you are exercising your dominion over your attention. If you haven’t tried this much before, however you try it, you may find that every 30 seconds or so you realize you have started thinking on a tangent away from your intended meditative target- be it repeating a mantra, keeping a quiet mind and focusing on breath, or holding an image. This is normal and okay! Remember you are exercising your dominion, or control, over your attention and thoughts, like lifting weights, it is a gradual process of building and strengthening.
Three, there are many acceptable ways to meditate. You don’t have to sit any certain way, but you can. You could also lie down, be doing yoga poses, or running. Below is a document outlining some quick easy ways you can start playing with to invoke, practice, and develop the meditative state. So could this also be a way to improve your ability to stay focused? Absolutely. Is it ever used in the treatment of ADHD to improve sustained focus ability? You bet.
Relaxation– There are so many ways to do this. It’s really a matter of letting your brain and body settle in it’s natural, not in fight or flight state. A warm bath or hot shower can do it. Some people who are just naturally wound up in their bodies, or have high muscle tone, sensory issues, Autism or ADHD may need to actually use their bodies as a way to relax and get thoughts and feelings to settle and organize. For these folks, a progressive muscle relaxation script can do the trick. You can guide a child to do this. You can use it before bedtime to get a tight active restless body to loosen up for sleep.
Counseling. Can you believe I almost left this one out? You never know what you might find out, what upgrades you might download into your system, what old no longer helpful patterns you might flush, by setting aside a little time just for you. There are many types of counseling, and many types of counselors. My advice is pick one you feel comfortable with. If you think they basically get you and you think they can help after a first meeting with them then that’s the one for you now. I offer virtual counseling via my practice website, the link is at the bottom of this page.
I do have a few words of caution about self-care, escape, and addiction. Balance and moderation. A glass of wine at night probably won’t hurt you. But a bottle will. A little video game as a distraction and temporary escape is normally perfectly healthy. Staying up all night playing is not. Isolating yourself and playing video games most of your time is not healthy, and yes, this can absolutely become an addiction. These games are made to be addicting and stimulate your reward centers in the brain. So wherever you run when you want to get away or avoid, make sure you don’t overdo it, and make sure you put it aside and run back. To your real life and your real people.
The signs of a possible addiction are simple. One, the activity interferes with some other necessary life function. Like sleep. Or work. Or school. Two, the activity interferes with relationships. Are you avoiding family members or having conflicts with them over your fun thing? Are you breaking rules and violating boundaries to get your thing? Are you hiding your thing from others or sneaking it when you are not supposed to? Finding yourself wanting to say no but repeatedly doing it anyways? Here’s your sign. No wonder you experience student loss of joy and motivation for school! An addiction can be a difficult, life-force sucking, guilt and anxiety provoking problem, and you may need to swallow your pride and get help to break it.
ADHD Autism Video Game Addiction
Digital Culture and Child Development Video Course
https://intensivecareforyou.com/help-kids-in-times-of-crisis/
Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School Methods for Setting Long-term Goals and Making Motivation
The Dream Book- this method involves getting a journal and writing down dreams you can come up with. Not dreams during sleep, more like goals and aspirations. Then select an image that goes with your dream, and put it in your book. Many of us have gotten better at knowing what we don’t want than we are at getting clear about what we do want in it’s place. Below find the document that details the Dream Book strategy, and then a menu of possible dream categories to inspire goals and intentions across multiple domains of your existence. This can be a powerful tool in first deciding and then creating what you want. When you have meaningful goals you are passionate and excited about, motivation is inescapable! Even for boring schoolwork, because suddenly there is an important reason for doing it! I’ve also written and published a work of art book, Your Dream Book.
Success Stories– here’s a quick little exercise that can help bypass obstacles and not knowing how to get where you want. What would be the opposite of student loss of joy and motivation for school? There’s where you should be sending your brain!
https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/guide-effective-goal-setting-teens-template-worksheet
https://tailoringthegoodlife.com/goal-setting-for-teens/
Exercising and practicing our good feelings so we can be ready to imagine the greatness we can achieve can hinge on cleaning up the way we think and speak, removing hidden and implied semantics that create self-imposed limits on what we may be really capable of doing.
Exercising and practicing discipline in our thoughts and spoken words- see “non-violent communication” and “conscious language”
https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Language-Discovery-Upgrade-Operating/dp/0978929128
I want to recommend this product at Amazon
Conscious Language: The Logos of Now ~ The Discovery, Code, and Upgrade To Our New Conscious Human Operating System
by Mastery Systems International
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978929128/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_51.0FbJC9NBQ3
https://www.cnvc.org/learn-nvc/what-is-nvc
Mindfulness or practicing being present
Virtual School Focus Strategies
Tips for staying focused and avoiding distractions during virtual instruction
Set up a good space for yourself to work in.
This can include:
-Choose a source of light that best suits you, natural, incandescent, fluorescent, dim or bright.
-Experiment with position- lying prone on a bed or floor, picking the right chair to sit in or ball to sit on, or bean bag chair, or standing at a higher table surface.
-Picking the right space- are you better off in a room alone or in a common area with other people around? Does the social pressure of other people around help you stay true to your intention of staying focused and not getting off-task, off-screen?
-Does a crunchy snack like popcorn help, did you know drinking through a straw or sucking on a peppermint or chewing gum improves focus for most?
-Make a plan and schedule for offline work. Decide when you want to start and finish, use a timer, use your smartphone and google calendar for deadlines and schedule reminders, set priorities and use the order of “worst first, best last” in ordering tasks.
-Plan breaks, and use your temptations as a reward so you can remind yourself that you can do that fun thing as soon as you finish this part of your work.
-Get yourself a coach. You could share your plans and schedule by including someone in your google calendar who can text you daily, or bi-weekly, to ask if you are sticking to your plan and staying on task.
-Make some signs or visuals to yourself; sticky notes that say no video games until this is done, a picture of the reason you are doing this work, such as a job you want, an income, your own house, etc.
-Consider background noise- are you better off in silence or with a tv on in the background or classical music? As you get used to the environment you are creating for yourself, all of these things, the place, the snack, the position, the background music, all these things will become cues that trigger your desired habits of working and focusing.
-Try some aromatherapy. Vanilla or lavender can be calming. Lemon or peppermint can help you feel awake and alert.
-Use a stress toy, a fidget, a rubber ball to squeeze.
-Turn off notifications that distract and disrupt focus.
-Keep your workspace clean and uncluttered.
If you find yourself getting sleepy or daydreaming during virtual instruction, get up! Stand, do some jumping jacks, run in place, get your heart pumping oxygen to your brain!
Decide how you will reward yourself for doing a good enough job. Do not allow your perfectionism to rob you of satisfaction and feeling good enough as you are when you miss a bit but have made a good effort and accomplished more than nothing.
Connect with your teachers or professors.
Develop and keep a routine. Work at the same place and times every day.
Take notes. This will help you thing about what is being said, and improve memory both from the act of writing it down and the deeper level of processing needed to summarize and paraphrase.
Save social media for after work times.
Practice good sleep hygiene. Keep it routine with the same bed and wake times daily.
Don’t forget to stay hydrated, eat a healthy diet, and exercise!
Wear headphones if you find background noises distract you.
I hope you enjoyed this guide for student loss of joy and motivation for school. You can also find more information in my blog on this site.
Children with special needs and behavior problems stuck at home without structure can push their parents to the edge. If you need more help than what is below, get more detailed how-to streamed video course instructions indexed and broken down into small steps with quiz questions and supporting documents and templates. I am offering 50% courses and ebooks bringing the course price down to $13.50. simply type the word covid into the coupon code box in your cart as you are checking out to apply the discount. Courses overview.
I do also offer virtual counseling via my practice site https://www.bradmasoncounselor.com/
I want to create healthy happy life
It can be hard to work with a mind that keeps going to the problems and worries. It's time to teach children their power over thoughts and feelings.
I would like teachable exercises for; replacing thoughts that are not helpful, reasonable, or true, creating joy and emotional resilience, Mindgarden metaphor illustrating power and choice in thoughts, Dream Book strategy for identifying clear goals and building motivation, a video explaining how NOT to let others or situations have the power to bring you down!