That’s a wrap! Another school year has ended and vacation has begun. Time to kick back, relax and take some time for yourself. You know the saying “happy wife, happy life”? Well, same goes for the classroom “happy teacher, happy class”! I know it is tempting to jump right in and start planning for next year – believe me I know. But in today’s post, I’d want to encourage you to take some time for yourself. Take a breather and focus on your family that has endured the stress of the end of the school year, graduations, extra hours and everything else that piles on at the end of the year. Reconnect with friends you’ve unintentionally ignored for the past 9 months. Dive into that book you bought in September and never found the time to read. Do something fun that will give you a break from the classroom.
In my first years of teaching it was necessary for me to work a second job in the summer. I never had the passion for the job that I did for the classroom but did what I needed to do to survive financial issues. I would end school on Friday and start my summer job the following Monday. After five or so years of working all the time and stressing about finances, I started to feel like life was about nothing but work and a job I once LOVED started feeling like a chore.
I learned during that time the importance of taking time for myself. In order to feel recharged and ready for the next school year, I need to take time off. Regardless of my financial situation, I knew that I needed to plan time either at the beginning of the summer or end of the summer for a recharge focus on me. Some years that was a staycation where the most elaborate thing I did was browse a bookstore by myself enjoying an indulgent coffee from Starbucks, other years it was taking advantage of deals and heading to the beach for an overnight with family. In more recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to travel a little more but believe me when I say, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to recharge, just put the school work down and look up!
It is nearly the end of June, what have you done to take care of yourself?
Leave a Reply