Teaching has been interesting. The first two years are a blur, and I was too busy and excited to get burnt out. It has definitely tested my patience, made me a little more organized, and kept me on my toes. I still tend to allow the one bad incident to taint the day versus all the good things that happen, but I’m starting to see how everyday is a fresh start even with the ones that try me the most.
This year I could no longer do the 4-5 hours of sleep and bringing home work every single day including weekends. I’ve given myself more breaks- sometimes not doing work after dinner, sleeping in on weekends, and taking naps. It allows me to spend more time with my family, friends, and personal work and I really think it has made a huge difference in my overall moral. In the back of my mind, I am a little nervous about what next year brings with the budget cuts and increase in enrollments looming ahead, but I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be too many changes.
Few things that have distracted me from work stress:
- Bailey Doesn’t Bark cups from Jackie. How did you know we were running out of/breaking our cups?
- Scoring a super comfortable Herman Miller Eames office chair to paint and sew in.
- Learning how to bead. I strung together some practice shapes.
- Sometimes I have to be dragged to a movie because I’m a homebody. But we saw Jane Eyre last night and it was beautifully shot, touching, and funny. Of course, I cried and jumped a few times.