People always tell me how great it must be to be a teacher, and have vacations and breaks. I chuckle to myself….. I find that most people do not realize that teachers often spend those times off doing work related to their jobs. Most teachers I know carry work everywhere.
Teaching is not an hourly wage job and I would be horrified myself if I clocked the amount of hours I put in outside the school day. It really is a very time consuming job. Lesson plans, correcting, making, creating, learning, research and communication occupy so much of our “free” time. I spent most of summer planning out two new courses for my schoo, as well as revamping materials and making new. During the school year, I rarely read a book or watch tv. Joey laughs that as he watches tv, I am solving math problems. I can’t recall the last movie I saw, nor a lunch date with friends.
But today is different, as today marks the first day of winter break and although my school bag is filled to the brim with projects I could and should spend time on, it is also a week to give Mrs. O a much needed break, and to let Chris off the shelf to live a little.
The weekend will be busy. I still have some of my tutoring students, the high schoolers who received packets over break. I would never desert them and I enjoy their company. Today, I will be at Sara’s doing my weekly chores that she is not allowed to do, as I watch her growing and glowing, the baby, thank you for thinking of my sweet Rachael, is growing daily and my Sara is beaming. She truly is so beautiful in her pregnancy. I put my hand on her tummy and feel this active little girl jumping and moving and my heart just smiles.
I plan on working on baby shower invitations and plans, we all are getting ready. But this week, I need to be a little bit selfish,too. I am not going anywhere but I definitely need to make some time for myself. That realization hit me one day when Dr. Jack mentioned to me that I often talk about all the things I do in a day, and how he gets tired just listening to what my day involved. I found that humorous from a man who makes me feel lazy when I listen to his day. And then he said a short phrase that has stuck in my head, “You do so much in a day for others, but I never hear you say anything you do for yourself.”
Now I know how insanely busy Dr. Jack is. So I boldly asked what he did for himself that day, and I realized that in all his rush to do it all, he manages to squeak in small amounts of time for himself as he named four things he did for himself that were not about like making lunch, but things solely for himself. I sat there thinking, “I do stuff for myself!” But then I could not think of a single thing I had done not just that day but for days and days and days. I remember sitting there and thinking…… wow… Is that healthy? Hardly…..
So, I promised myself that this week? That would be a goal. My YMCA card is gathering far too much dust and I do not have the luxury on regular days to enjoy classes that occur during the day, but this week I do. I thought I might try some different things and even to try out other branches. I may also look into getting a day pass to other health places to see if I can find some where or thing to be on my tutoring map, you know, somewhere I could stop, and just spend a little time after tutoring before going home.
I am also looking to just do some things I don’t get to do, like read a book, or use some of those gift cards for the movies that are gathering dust, too. I look around and see that there are many jobs around the house that I should do, but far too much of my life gets caught up in “have to.” And how healthy is that mentally, to never recharge? No wonder I get stressed!
I need to balance it out some. And I need to look at my daily schedule and try to sort out how to make that balance work more on a daily schedule because what I am currently doing? Yeah, that isn’t working for me any longer. I need to kick it up a notch. When the weather gets better I can walk outside but until? I need to make this work better. Other people do it! There is some key I have missed but I am going to find it.
I definitely need a healthier balance of all things! And I am sure I am not the only one! It’s kind of funny how we all attract the same kinds of people we are. Did you ever notice that? Most of my friends are highly driven people, who manage to DO IT ALL….. but I have noticed that they are doing it better than I am. They seem to have more balance and that is some magical thing that seems to escape me. So that’s a goal for my week, to fine tune that.
After all, every day of this journey is about living healthier than yesterday! A little girl is on her way, and I want to be the grandma that is active and a good role model of healthy living!
So how do you balance out your busy, hectic life? Suggestions and discussion are so welcomed!
Hugs
Chris