155. How Long Is a Lifetime? (And What Are You Going to Do With Yours?)
About this episode
In this episode, Carol Miller explores the concept of a lifetime and how students can better understand the value of their time and future choices through a jellybean visual representation.
Episode 155. How Long Is a Lifetime? This week on Counselor Chat, I’m zooming out. Over the past few weeks we’ve talked about college exploration, career research, brackets, and future possibilities. But in this episode I wanted to step back and ask a bigger question — one I ask my upper elementary and middle school students every year: How long is a lifetime? To explore that question, I use a simple visual with jellybeans, where each one represents a day of life. When students see them all laid out it feels like forever… until we start sorting them into things like sleeping, working, and everyday routines. That’s when perspective shifts. When we do the math together, students realize the average person may spend about 43 years working before retirement. And that leads to one of my favorite questions to ask them: “If you’re going to spend 43 years working, how do you want those years to feel?” Instead of focusing only on what job they want someday, students begin thinking about the kind of life they want to build — and how the effort and skills they build now create opportunities later. In This Episode • The jellybean lifetime visual and why it resonates with students • How I…
People in this episode
Host: Carol Miller
More episodes of Counselor Chat Podcast
- 161. How to Choose an SEL Curriculum
- 159. You Don’t Have to Do It All: Letting Go This Time of Year
- 158. Test Anxiety Isn’t Just Nerves—Here’s What Students Really Need
- 157. Why I Don’t Make Kids Apologize (And What I Do Instead)
- 156. Spring Fever Is Real: Managing Big Energy & Bigger Behaviors
- 154. March Madness and School Counseling
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Counselor Chat Podcast podcast page.