Sometimes things hit so hard it takes a moment. For Motivation Monday, today’s show is about having hope. I have to admit, however, I recorded this with Dr. Julia Garcia in October, shortly after my dad died. I remember thinking, “Wow, how am I going to record this show on hope and have it be encouraging to educators when I’m crying so much and struggling?” Wow, I never could have known what would happen.
Not only did Julia give some great advice, but she turned the tables on me. I had to wait a moment to air this show. I just did. But now that I listen to it in the summertime, I see that all of us struggle to have hope. We all have things going on. We all have struggles, don’t we? And we need to work through those. And I’ll tell you, with how it seems that social media is being fueled by negativity and controversy, we need a positive message right now. It’s time to air this show. I hope you receive this show with the encouragement and honesty we all need. Wherever you are, if you’re struggling with hope, I do really want you to get the help you need.
As I write this, I’m in Stratford, Ontario for their annual Stratfest theater festival. I’ve seen plays, eaten amazing food, and I even bought a new backpack. Lots of things have changed for me since last October when Dad died, but part of it was seeking the hope that we all need to have in order to live a life worth living. If you’re struggling today, it is ok to need help, because we all need hope. I hope you’ll find this show as encouraging as I do.
In the US you can text 988, find the number you need in your area if you feel your mental health critical or if you are considering harming yourself. Consider this a message to you. You are important. You are needed. We need you here. You have a purpose and sometimes you have to go through the valleys to climb the mountain again. Please reach out for help if you need it, friends.
Dr. Julia Garcia is a psychologist, author, and renowned speaker dedicated to empowering people through the science of mental health. For nearly two decades, she has worked with educators, students, business leaders, and individuals facing life’s toughest moments—helping them break through fear, doubt, and hopelessness to build lasting habits of healing and hope. Dr. Julia weaves her real, lived experiences with behavioral science to create practical, transformative strategies for lasting change. Whether through her TEDx presentations, her interactive workshops, or her book The 5 Habits of Hope, Dr. Julia’s mission remains the same: to prove that hope isn’t just something you feel—it’s something you practice, one habit at a time. She additionally hosts a live-audience talk-show style podcast, The Journey with Dr. J, which blends conversation and poetry.
If this episode encouraged you, share it with a teacher friend who needs a little hope today. And if the show has helped you, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review wherever you’re listening — it helps other educators find us.
This transcript was generated using AI and has been reviewed by humans for accuracy. Minor errors or artifacts may remain but I worked my best to find any issues with the transcript as I reviewed the show. – Vicki
[10 Minute Teacher Podcast intro] (00:00): This is the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with your host, Vicki Davis.
Vicki Davis (00:05): Dr. Julia Garcia is a psychologist, author, and renowned speaker known for blending real-life experiences with the science of behavioral change. She works with audiences like schools, communities, and organizations. And she is the author of The 5 Habits of Hope and the interactive podcast The Journey with Dr. J. Thanks for coming on the show, Julia.
Dr. Julia Garcia (00:27): I’m so grateful to be here, and thank you, everyone, for listening.
Vicki Davis (00:30): In The 5 Habits of Hope, you redefine hope as something that people can practice. So how do we practice having hope?
Dr. Julia Garcia (00:38): The million-dollar question, right? I think about it like this. If I were to ask you what hope meant, and then I were to ask 100 people around you what hope meant, I bet no one’s going to say the exact same thing, probably in the same way. No one’s probably going to say it’s a cognitive science, but we’re all mostly going to think and relate to hope as a feeling. Would you agree?
Vicki Davis (00:40): Yeah. I once had a pastor who said you can’t let the caboose drive the train — that feelings have to be the caboose. But ultimately it is a feeling that you have to understand: do I have it or not? And use it — read books and do things. This summer I’ve been studying hope, just because my dad was fighting pancreatic cancer. Okay, I know my feelings aren’t lining up. So I need to figure out: how do I practice hope? Don’t you think that people can learn to better have hope?
Dr. Julia Garcia (01:32): That’s really why I wrote the book, because I work with educators all over the country. And I work in every kind of demographic you can imagine. And what I was experiencing and seeing and witnessing firsthand from the educators, the parents in the community, the mental health community around them, and the students were stories of hopelessness. So I’m going to actually read a couple of them, if that’s okay, to paint more of a picture of why I got to this place of hope as a practice.
When I work and facilitate keynotes and things working with educators and students, I walk them through the five habits of hope in real time. It takes two minutes. And one of the prompts they’re asked is to think about a time that they’ve struggled where they didn’t open up. Because what I realized is that most people who are struggling — feeling any kind of struggle, like overwhelmed or a trauma they’re experiencing — we hold it in. We have this ability as human beings to hold so many struggles at once. So in their own words — this is their handwriting, their words, and these are educators around the country:
This one’s from a first-grade teacher who says, “I struggled because my best friend told me he couldn’t forgive me, and I was devastated.” One’s from an elementary principal: “I struggled to get out of an abusive relationship and past trauma, overwhelmed by the role in my community.” This one’s from a teacher, an ELA teacher: “I struggled because I felt like an imposter. I didn’t feel like I knew enough or was able to take care of what I needed to.” This is a math teacher who shares, “I struggled because I couldn’t give up control and just be.” “I struggle because I try to help everyone else except myself.”
I feel like there’s got to be a lot of people who can relate to that. There’s so many different struggles people were saying. And then the next prompt is, can you identify a feeling you felt? And overwhelmingly, it was hopelessness. Those feelings, along with loneliness, just kept resurfacing.
Vicki Davis (03:14): Yeah. Me.
Dr. Julia Garcia (03:29): And I’m like, if we can get to a place of feeling hopeless, then we must be able to get to a place of feeling hopeful. And how can we do that? And that is really what my work in the book has been about: if we can get to hopelessness, we definitely can get to hopefulness. And that’s about navigating our emotional habits and well-being.
Vicki Davis (03:48): But you know, sometimes there are really hard situations. So how do we move toward hopefulness — be full of hope instead of having none?
Dr. Julia Garcia (03:58): The first thing to do is to recognize the power of our thought patterns, right? And to know that we have the ability to reshape the neural pathways in our mind. So we get in this thought train. It’s a thought pattern like, “I’m not good enough. I’m not good enough.” It’s the same old story, new day, right? And it’s a thought cycle. So we have to recognize: is our thought cycle harmful or helpful?
And we have to see, when it comes to our feelings and our emotions, what are we doing? Do we have a process to process them? Because I realized growing up, I did not have a process to process my feelings. So even when I started my career, I was still a mess in the background, because I wasn’t dealing with my feelings, but I was showing up and putting on this mask and this facade. It came to a place where I couldn’t hold all the things anymore. It came to a head.
And for me, my head came to the point where I was drinking and doing drugs and things like that after I was working with students, because I didn’t have a way to process my own emotions. So I was just masking and holding, and our bodies and our minds and our spirits and our souls can only hold so much in. So how we take those first steps — it can be any of the habits, right? But it’s about taking an emotional habit that’s probably going to be the opposite of what you’re doing. So if you don’t like feelings, if you like distracting yourself from them, if you’re a doom-scroller, whatever — then habit number one might be for you. It’s a habit of reflection: how can I actually pause long enough to connect with something real and not distract myself from it?
I think for educators, one of the number-one habits I hear is the most useful — and it has been for me — is number four, which is the habit of receiving. And this is identifying what support would look like or feel like for me. I once asked a principal this after a full day of workshopping with his entire staff. I said, come on up here with me on stage and let us know what support would look like or feel like for you and your community. He couldn’t think of anything. Can you imagine why?
Vicki Davis (05:59): Wow. Did he already have support, or did he just not want to tell anybody anything?
Dr. Julia Garcia (06:03): He didn’t know how to ask for support. He was such a “I’m going to do it all, I’m going to figure it out, I’m their leader, I must figure this out” person. And they’re standing there waiting and wanting to support, and he still was feeling like he had to do everything. That begins in our mind — that’s our perspective. So it’s these subtle perspective shifts in the culture we’re creating.
And I always check in with myself, and even the students I work with, and my kids: what would it feel like or look like to feel supported right now? To feel like I’m coming alongside you in your journey and your work — instead of saying, I’m just going to take it all and solve all the problems, which a lot of caring people do. They take on all of the care, and then it becomes overwhelming. So that one’s a really simple way.
Dr. Julia Garcia (06:52): You shared with us earlier about the loss of your father, and thank you for sharing that. I’m sure a lot of people listening are grieving right now, and you’re still creating from that grief, and you’re still doing the things you believe in. And I’m really grateful that you came today and did this with me. I would love if you can also maybe share something you’re hopeful for, even in spite of this loss.
Vicki Davis (07:16): Thank you for asking that. That’s so thoughtful. My dad was president of the American Soybean Association, but he was also a farmer. And so he traveled the world trying to make the world a better place for farmers. But he was also a big leader in the conservation movement, protecting wetlands. He was a big part of the 1990 Farm Bill that allows us here in the US to set aside wetlands and protect the birds and the lakes and the trees and all the things that he loved so much. And he always told me, “Vicki, if you can stay in a profession and speak for that profession, you can have a much greater impact.”
He made me promise to continue to tell the truth even when it’s hard, and to continue to speak. He got to hear that the show went from five cities to 16 cities, and he was so proud. Telling the stories — I know that being vulnerable and being open about things is part of what we do. And my mom passed away in 2020 from dementia. She said, “Vicki, when you’re struggling, find people to help — find things that are your talent to help people.” Now, you also have to obviously balance that — be in touch with your feelings and have your support group, and get counseling if that’s needed.
I’m very hopeful, because I know that my life has purpose. I know that my students’ lives have purpose, and the people I work with — and I can see such great hope and opportunity. And I try not to let the caboose drive the train, because I was so close to my dad. I was a daddy’s girl. I was his oldest. But I try to take all of that relationship and who he was and become more like the good things that he was. Thanks for asking that question, because it’s a hard space to be in when you’re grieving so deeply. But I’ve always been grateful to have the kinds of parents who are worth grieving deeply. And I want to be the kind of person that’s worth grieving deeply. So if you have somebody that you are grieving deeply, what a blessing it is to have that person. But one thing I know is that my parents raised me to live, not to suddenly die when they did.
Vicki Davis (09:33): You have your beginning date and your ending date, and the dash in between is up to you. And so I want to make the most of the dash, because it’s over before you know it. I also have faith in the Lord, and He’s taking me through a lot. There’s your kind of long answer to a question. I’m really glad somebody asked me, because truthfully, Julia, I have been struggling with how do I share this with my audience. It’s like you writing your poetry and sharing the way you did. That was a way you could do it. And in an interview is a way I can share.
Dr. Julia Garcia (10:04): If that was the only thing you shared on this interview, I feel like that is all it even needs to be. That was enough, because that was so real and so honest, and we can’t have hope without honesty.
Vicki Davis (10:15): But the book is The 5 Habits of Hope, Dr. Julia Garcia. Thanks for coming on the show, and thanks for asking me a question for a change. It’s been a long time since somebody’s asked me a question.
Dr. Julia Garcia (10:26): Thank you so much.
[10 Minute Teacher Podcast outro] (10:28): Thanks for tuning in to the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. Watch the video version of this podcast and catch my new radio and TV show, Cool Cat Teacher Talk, on YouTube and a radio or TV station near you. Join my Cool Cat Teacher Classroom Matters newsletter at coolcatteacher.com/newsletter. Leave a review if you found this helpful. See you later, educator.
