A Teacher's Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

I am a teacher. That is no surprise to anyone who reads me. I love my job. That is not a surprise to anyone who knows me. What is a surprise is that even me, someone who loves their job, can need to take a step back for a mental health day.

One thing I love about my principal is that there is rarely any questions asked when we tell him that we are not feeling well. He simply asks us to send over our lesson plans and he makes it work, and still, I hate missing a day. I feel incredibly guilty not only because I never like to miss a day of work, but also because I genuinely care about my students and the little educational community that we have built.

With that being said, it is so important for us as educators to take care of ourselves. Teacher burnout is a real thing and I am finally beginning to understand how it happens. I have not been in this career very long, but I see, and I observe teachers giving their all every day.

First of all, I know we all feel like these are our kids, but these are not our children. We go home to our children every day, and they sometimes do not get the best of us because we have been trying to be there for every child that walks into our classrooms even when those children do not deserve it. We have to understand that other people are in charge of raising these students, our job is to teach them. The other grown ups who are raising them don’t always teach them how to behave in a school setting, how to show respect and be a good citizen, how to listen to basic instructions, etc. In fact, there are some parents who no longer trust the school system because of past experiences, and they work counter intuitively to their child’s teacher, and we are expected to work with them for the betterment of that one student, let alone the other hundred students we have in middle and high school, thirty in elementary.

Secondly, we have administrators who are less than effective. It’s not their fault though. Their hands are tied by the people in charge of them whether that is district personnel, board members, or the people who infuse money into the school, you know, the people who haven’t stepped foot into an actual running classroom and have no idea what it takes to manage today’s youth. It’s infuriating that students who need more discipline rarely get it, and the students who would benefit from a tiny slap on the wrist, for lack of a better phrase because no, we’re not hitting the kids, but they get punished as though they are the biggest problem in the school. This is all done because of the rules that are put in place that make zero sense to anybody besides the people who made them up. I’m not insinuating that they made them up on a whim, but half of the time, they’re outdated. Yet, we as educators are still expected to enforce them.

Thirdly, when we are teachers, we are always teachers. It is almost impossible to find a work life balance. We are constantly thinking about lesson plans, creating projects, building quizzes, grading, etc. It never ends. I know some people think that we just recycle these things, and sometimes we do, but most of the time we focus on how to make it better for the next set of students. It’s constantly, how can we help our students succeed. At least this is true for the good teachers. A good teacher is a good student. We are constantly learning, and figuring out better ways to do the job we are so blessed to have. This sometimes requires reading the most boring text you have ever read in your life or sitting in the most draining meetings you can imagine. It doesn’t end when we go home at four, if we even get to go home at four. It doesn’t matter what our contract says, and we don’t get paid any more money for that.

Lastly, at the end of the day, we are humans too. That means that we have bills and families just like the other humans do. We have good days and bad days. We have normal stressors on top of the already stressful job that we have. You have to really love the job to keep going. There are much less stressful jobs that pay better, but we do this because we love it. So it’s important to take care of ourselves so we can continue to do the job.

Yesterday, I remember telling so many people that I was so tired and I could barely keep my eyes open. I went to bed early. Today, I woke up with a migraine. I felt dizzy. I felt extremely cramped up. The moment I told my principal I would not be coming in today, it all started to subside. After I turned in my sub plans, it was completely gone. I lay in bed, even now, and know that if I don’t take the breaks I need, my body will force me to. It is most important to take care of yourself. If you don’t, nobody else will. Your principal isn’t going to say, “You need a break. Go home.” They need you there, but if you don’t take care of you, nobody will have you. So take those mental health days when you need them. Don’t wait until you start to feel burnt out either.

In case you didn’t get the memo from the rest of this piece, I am a teacher, the most underpaid profession in this country (joking, but not really), so I would appreciate the tips that you all send in. Then if you should be so inclined, please share this with your people through your social media platforms. A heart and a comment are good too. Thanks again.