10.17.2015
Becoming a Whole Person
This is year seven of teaching for me and year one of feeling like a whole person.
Over the summer, me and my sister started trying to lose weight together: working out, walking together every day, drinking half our body weight in water, taking weight loss supplements, and buying Fitbits to track our steps and calories.
I also started my own business with the amazing skincare company Rodan and Fields which has opened up a whole new community of people for me to be a part of, new goals for me to accomplish, and new dreams for me to dream.
This school year I have also been posting daily over at the #onegoodthing blog.
So even though I have five preps, one of which is new, a cheerleading squad, and the largest Student Council club I've ever had, it feels like the first year of me being a whole person.
It sounds crazy that adding more and adding new things to my life has made me feel better- but it's true.
Now a bad day at school isn't the end of the world. I focus on the positive things that happened and write about it. After school I go walking and forget about it.
Instead of eating junk food to feel better, I'm tracking my calories to see what I should and shouldn't eat and obsessively checking if I have changed positions in our FitBos group.
Knowing that my whole life doesn't just revolve around teaching helps me not to put so much stress and pressure on myself when things go wrong. It helps me not feel stuck or trapped, it helps me feel happy and content, knowing that there is more to life than the four walls of my classroom.
I am a whole person with interests, hobbies, goals, dreams, and a life. Recognizing that makes me a better person and better teacher. It reminds me that my students are not just consumers of math, but people with interests, hobbies, goals, dreams, and a life. They are on their way to becoming a whole person- and how can I help?
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ReplyDeleteI am a first year teacher with 5 preps as well (all high school math) and I'm realizing just how easy it is to be completely sucked into the job, and obsess over it. I'm having many moments where I feel like it's just weighing me down and I'm making wrong decision after wrong decision. However, after reading this post, and also a nice weekend with some family, I finally feel like I can breathe easier. So thank you, for reminding me that there is an entire world going on outside of school. You have amazing things on this website and I'm finding it very helpful!! :)
ReplyDeleteAs you can see, it took me seven years to learn this so you are not alone! I'm glad you're finding helpful stuff. Let me know if you have any questions or need to vent or need encouragement. I love talking about teaching!
DeleteI'm on year two and I'm hoping it gets better! Every moment seems to be consumed with school. I just told my husband last week that if it doesn't feel better by the end of this school year I might consider another career. It seems so overwhelming at times.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. It can be very overwhelming. One thing that helps me is to realize there is a gap between the teacher I am and the teacher I want to be- and that gap can only be closed with time. You can't hurry time! And instead of trying to fix everything, just keep adding one good thing. And eventually, you have a pile of good things. Let your pile of good things grow. =)
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