Aryn Henning Nichols

Patience in Bloom: Build your patience with these tips

I don’t know how many times over the last 16-and-a-half years (that’s how long we’ve been making Inspire(d) Magazine) I’ve thought, “How am I not further ahead right now?” It’s a question I can put to my day, my magazine production schedule, and my life in general. It’s always so easy to envision the finished product/goal/dream, etc…if I could JUST snap my fingers, it would be perfect! Ugh. Not being a magic genie is rough.

In the era of social media and the Internet, where likes, loves, and information are instantaneous, it feels hard to wait. 

But when I really look back on those 16+ years, I don’t think I would do it any differently.This work has offered a flexibility that almost always allows me to be available for our daughter or other loved ones at the drop of a hat. Sometimes it means I have to stay up until 3 am working (I try not to do that much anymore), or that I’m strapped to my desk on a 60-degree sunny Sunday, but if I’m needed somewhere else by someone important in my life, I am there.

This slow-and-steady pace has also allowed for adjustments as I learn new things about myself. What 26-year-old Aryn created in 2007 has been refined and redesigned by 43-year-old Aryn in 2024. Our lives and plans and dreams sometimes change, and that’s okay. I’ve gotta be patient.

So, then I find some peace. I accept that it’s okay that I don’t currently have a positive news media empire, with Inspire(d) Magazines franchised in every region of the country. That is still the dream, to watch the positive news ripple out across the US, making community-level change that has national impact. But we’ll keep at it. It’s been a pretty amazing journey so far, and we’re setting some really deep roots here, with the knowledge that we’ll continue blooming in our own time. 

I hope this issue of Inspire(d) gives you a sense of peace as well. Life is a series of constant cycles. There will be good and bad, progression and regression, but if you keep moving forward, you’re gonna bloom so bright and bold in your very own way, I just know it. And I am here for it!

Thanks for reading, friends. Happy Spring!

XOXO, Aryn

10 Ways to Build Patience

1. Accept what’s out of your control. Hone in on what IS in your control

2. Don’t give up! If you get tired:

• Try a meditative breath – four counts in, hold four, four counts out, hold four
• Reach out to someone you know is good at pep talks
• Go easy on yourself. You’ve got time.

3. Take care of yourself. There’s no way you’ll bloom if you don’t fulfill your basic needs. 

4. Practice Mindfulness Techniques 

• Do a body scan, assessing each part of your body.
• Try a mindful walk. Focus on the different sounds, smells, feels of a spring day.

5. Recognize impatience. Waiting helps you see a new perspective. What is this meant to be teaching you? What have you missed in your impatience?

6. Show Gratitude. This can be a way to reframe your thoughts in a positive way. 

7. Let go of comparisons.

8. Say no to negative self-talk. It doesn’t matter how long things have been one way, each day is a new opportunity.

9. Look at the big picture and reorganize your priorities. What’s important in the long run? How does it affect what’s important today?

10. Slow and steady. Start small and stay committed. Don’t worry about the whole marathon. All you need to do is take the first step. And then the next step. And then the next.

You’ve got this!

It is said the art of teaching is in leading others to discovery. And Molly Holkesvik, longtime English teacher at Decorah High School, has helped literally thousands of Northeast Iowa students discover concepts both large and small, both in and out of the classroom.

“It’s the moments of genuine learning – of discovery and realization – that we have together that keep me going,” she says. Luckily, she’s just as motivated today as the day she joined the DHS faculty in 2002.

In her 20-plus years in the classroom, Molly has helped students hone their communication skills in a variety of ways, from grasping correct grammar to enhancing vocabulary to mastering the ability to write concisely. Beyond the classroom – as a speech, cross country, and (sometime) swim/dive coach – she has helped many of those same students build confidence, achieve goals, and better understand the definition of teamwork.

“It is a totally different kind of learning for students,” Molly says. “And I really get to know them when I see them outside the classroom, in different realms; I get to push them in different ways and see them grow in different ways.”

As an assistant coach, she helped guide the DHS girls cross country team to a conference title in 2023 and an 11th-place finish at state. And as one of DHS’s six speech coaches, she helped program participants earn a school-record-tying 16 All-State Large Group Speech nominations in early February.

Indeed, one might think that given all the long days Molly logs during the academic year – “so many hours” she confirms with her characteristic grin – she would take the summer off. But for Molly, whose self-professed goal is to “help everyone I can and meet tons of people,” the summer months present yet another opportunity for discovery.

Several years ago, Molly took over what was then an annual summer trip for DHS students to New York, but when the number of participants began to dwindle, she reimagined the program, and Viking Voyagers was born. In 2019, she coordinated a trip for students, family members, and a few fellow DHS faculty members to Europe (England, France, and Italy). Subsequent groups have toured Greece and Spain (2021) and Costa Rica (2022 and 2023), while future trips are planned for Ireland, Scotland, and England (2024), and Japan (2025).

Molly traces her deep-seated passion for seeing the world (and helping others do the same) back to her childhood. “My father died when I was two-and-a-half, and that changed my life,” she explains. “When I was young, we couldn’t afford to travel much … and that’s why I’m so passionate about helping students see the world. It’s really important to me because they learn so much from these trips, not only facts, history, and situational awareness but also how to travel, how to appreciate different cultures, and how to maneuver unexpected challenges.”

Molly emphasizes that her dedication to educating today’s youth is simply paying forward the investment her own teachers made in her. She had many impactful experiences with her own English teachers at DHS, she says, and also lots of fun participating in speech, drama, choir, band, and cross country throughout high school. 

Those experiences steered Molly toward studying speech and drama, English, and secondary education at Luther College in 1992; there she encountered “amazing, inspiring, wonderful” professors like Mary Hull Mohr, Peter Scholl, and Terry Sparkes. These and other teachers reinforced her career path even as she and her husband, Bob, also a Luther student, started a family that would ultimately include one daughter (Marea) and four sons (Hans, Steven, Dawson, and Nils). 

“When we could, Bob and I found classes that were opposite of each other, so when I was in class, he was watching the kids, and when he was in class, I was watching the kids, and somehow that worked,” Molly reflects. “Isn’t that wild?”

Molly went on to earn a master’s degree in communication arts from the University of Northern Iowa in 2002. Beyond furthering her own education – and devoting her career to educating others – Molly has finished two full Ironmans (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.22 run), three half-Ironmans, and multiple marathons. In the community, she’s acted in, directed productions for, and currently serves as the board president of the New Minowa Players community theater group. Last November, she co-directed (with Alison Blake) Ye Olde Cabaret: New Minowa Players Through the Years, its 200th show. “It emphasized how important every single person involved in each community theater production really is, from the performers on stage to the people setting up that stage to the people coming to watch,” says Molly. “In order for community theater to work, that continuum of support has to happen, and I think Decorah excels in that.” 

Given all she has accomplished in roles as teacher, coach, wife, mother of five, and grandmother of four, it would be remiss not to ask Molly how she’s able to wear so many hats. Her response is lightning-quick: the unfailing assistance and partnership of her husband of more than 30 years. “Bob is the be-all, end-all of husbands,” she says. “He really is the ultimate support system.”

Sara Friedl-Putnam

Sara Friedl-Putnam enjoyed learning more about Molly Holkesvik while writing this piece and is thankful for the investment Molly made in her own daughter, Maddie, as her English teacher, speech and dive coach, and all-around cheerleader.  

A Giant Paper Strawberry Box would be perfect as a May Day Basket (just add a string for a handle) or Party Favor Box, or just because you’re feeling crafty. Happy Spring!

Supplies:
Strawberry box template
Leaf template (if you want to print several leaves on green or white paper)
Red card stock (or white if you want to color it yourself)
Green paper (or white if you want to color it yourself)
Glue stick
Scissors
Paper hole punch
Green pipe cleaner

Print the strawberry box template on card stock. I had red card stock, but you could also print it on white and color in your strawberry box page (red or whatever fun color you would like)! Cut out the template along the gray lines.

There’s a leaf template included on the main strawberry template page, so you could cut that out as well and trace it over your green paper, or you could print a whole page of leaves on green paper (with this template) and save yourself some time (especially if you’re making more than one box).

Fold the template in half.

Open it up and start folding the strawberry segments in toward the center.

Like this.

And this.

Once each segment has been folded, open it back up and overlap the two segments on the ends.

Put glue on the inside of the segment that will be the outer layer.

And glue on the outside of the segment that will be on the inside layer. Put the two glued segments together.

Hold those segments together for a bit while the glue dries.

Grab your paper hole punch and put a hole at the tip of each segment.

Like this!

Thread one end of your pipe cleaner (you could probably use some stiff twine or string here if you don’t have pipe cleaners) through one hole, and then through the next and the next.

Thread the other end of the pipe cleaner through the twi holes on the other side of the strawberry.

You can add your party favors or little May Day Basket gifts at this point, then bring the pipe cleaner ends together to close your strawberry.

Your Giant Paper Strawberry should look like this at this point!

Now, when I first made this template, I thought you could just cut out the leaf template and trace it on to green paper. But that’s kind of a pain. So I made this sheet of leaves that you can just print right onto green paper (or color white paper before cutting them out). That should eliminate at least one step, haha! Learn from my mistakes!

Either way, once you have your strawberry leaves cut out, you use your hole punch to make a hole in the middle.

Thread your pipe cleaner ends through that hole, and you’ve got a finished Giant Paper Strawberry Box! Yay! If you make one, be sure to tag @iloveinspired on Instagram or Facebook so we can see your rad work!