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Our Unhealthy Fascination with Workaholism
If you have been teaching for a while, you might have noticed that among teachers, talking about exhaustion is like talking about the weather. This topic is so commonly heard and normalized among teachers that we feel worthy of admiration every time we tell our colleagues we went to bed at 3 am because we spent the night working on our lesson plans. Along those same lines, we also tend to develop certain admiration towards other teachers who work on the weekends or stay up late working for several nights during the week.
To be an acceptable teacher you must be creative, patient, a good role model, a permanent learner, organized, empathic, affectionate, enthusiastic, and much, much more. It is disheartening to see how often burned out, and commonly underpaid professionals are asked to fulfill such a long list of personal and academic demands.
The Hidden Price to Pay
At this point many of you might be saying something I used to tell myself in the past… but Adriana….“I love my job and I do all this because of my students …this is my calling, my vocation.”
Believe me, I have been there before. I used to encourage myself with these types of phrases until I found myself trying to keep my eyes open while a second-grade student was asking me if I was tired.
It was just at this point when I started realizing that I barely spent time with my family and I hardly enjoyed my life without facing that feeling of guilt, that feeling of wasting time.
This extreme tiredness affected all the other areas of my life — I had frequent colds, I was always busy on the weekends, and I definitely lost part of my natural motivation, patience, and happiness, which directly affected my learners. I had to do something, and I had to do it soon.
How Being Healthy Improved My Teaching
I talked to a close friend, who is a psychologist, and she told me that the damage caused by the lack of sleep was irreparable and that it might bring even more serious consequences in the long term, such as cardiovascular problems, hypertension, and other chronic conditions.
She also said something really RE-MAR-KA-BLE, she said that a great part of my job had to do with the way I was nourished as a person. She said “If you’re working with kids, how can you expect to be a great teacher if you don’t have anything to give? You gotta make time for yourself to recharge and fuel your mind, soul, and heart so that you are able to give something to your students. You need those moments to enjoy life and even just chill out. Remember, you’re not a robot!”
She suggested that I create a serious schedule in which I could plan my daily duties in advance, along with my breaks and work times, strictly sticking to them just the same way I follow and respect the school’s schedules and demands. In addition, she proposed that I should make the most of my time at school in order to minimize the amount of work I had to take home, and to schedule “sacred time” for my family, my hobbies, and to even DO NOTHING.
Overcoming My Feelings of Guilt
I slowly tried to make these changes, but it was hard to avoid those “guilty feelings”. I started by going to bed at a certain time, and little by little I began optimizing my time at school. I can’t tell you I never take some paperwork home, but I am now much more thoughtful when planning and spending my time.Nowadays, I work hard on following my schedule and I use several tools like ChatGPT to help me plan and grade. By the way, if you haven’t read my ChatGPT article, CLICK HERE.
In the end…thanks to my extreme exhaustion, my friend’s words, and the changes I have made along the way, I was able to understand that not resting is not an option; it is a MUST if you want to do your best as a teacher.
If you want to see more practical tips to improve your teacher life. Click on the image below.
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