“How often in social media do we focus on the negatives of the job?” A good friend and colleague of mine had mentioned this in a conversation recently in the office. The thought definitely struck me. Looking back at my own social media interaction and posts, much of it is about what I would like to see change, what I want to be different. How often do I write a post about the positives? Not often enough!

I think it is human nature. When we are talking about ourselves it is easier to come up with a weakness than a strength sometimes. It’s not that we aren’t stressed, that we don’t have difficult days, that we don’t spend long hours in the office, that we aren’t striving for things to always be better in our departments. If that is all we share, however, what is the blogosphere saying about us as a whole? We are simply making a lot of bad PR for ourselves as a profession!

As #100happydays becomes more popular with our community and the social media world as a whole, I hope this is a trend towards seeing the positives in life. Just as with that challenge, there may be days where it is very hard to find something to be happy about as a Student Affairs Professional. It doesn’t always have to be an award won at a conference or a major victory in the fight for social justice; sometimes it’s the little things: being able to navigate through a tough conversation with a student that you know made a difference, taking a break to chat with a co-worker about something positive, making a new friend or colleague, having a student stop by for no reason, making time to work on a project that is close to your heart.

So, in the words of my dear friend Kate,

“I challenge you to post/tweet/comment one positive thing every day using the hashtag #HappySApro.  It can be large accomplishments or small pieces, but share something… What’s the goal?  Let’s start focusing on our successes and allow our fellow colleagues to join us in celebrating the reasons why we are in this field of Student Affairs.  Grad student?  Use#HappySAgrad instead!”

Read her whole blog post here.

What is my happy moment of today?

“Leaving in a few hours to interview RD candidates at the Western New York Placement Exchange. It is really full circle to be able to interview others at the place where I had my first interview for what would become my first professional position. Hoping to start a new SA pro on the same path tomorrow. #HappySApro ”

> BONUS <

Podcast With Josie Ahlquist on Digital Identity, Social Media & Leadership