cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Keith Allison
I have been in my 4th city this week, working with educators that have been passionate and have inspired me in the work that they are doing and I am doing. That being said, I woke up this morning and was exhausted. The thought of talking to anybody was overwhelming and I probably could have slept for another 6 hours. My brain has been dead and even blogging, which I try to do an average of three a week, has been tough. I haven’t had the time to read anything, and usually through reading, I am inspired to write. I actually feel that I can better connect my learning when I get to write about it. This week. there has been no writing because I have not been able to read content. Kind of makes you realize that kids need both content and time to create and connect for true learning to happen; I can’t expand my learning if I have no prior knowledge. It is not an “either/or” with content and process, but both are needed.
That being said, this is not about content and process. This is also not a post about how I am tired, and then somehow, there is going to be moral to the story that will reinvigorate me and make people feel good. One of the posts that I did have time to read was about practices to help people say no. I felt a connection to the following statement:
…if you catch her in a moment of honesty, you’ll find out that she doesn’t feel so great. In fact, she’s exhausted.
Irene can’t say no. And because she can’t say no, she’s spending her very limited time and already taxed energy on other people’s priorities, while her own priorities fall to the wayside.
It is not that I can’t say no because honestly, I can. It is easy to say no to things that I think there is someone better to do it or I simply do not have the time. When I help others, it is more important that they get the right person as opposed to simply getting me. I do however think teachers are notorious for taking on too much.
Here is my reality right now. I am tired. I am ready for bed. I haven’t exercised as much as I would have liked to this week (or this month) and I am feeling fatigued. I am getting to the point of trading off sleep for exercise, or vice-versa. Not good.
So here are my thoughts.
I have been through this before. I have talked to my friends and say that I am going to take a month off of Twitter so I can just get some sleep then I am made fun of when I am on the next day, or emailing people at work on a late Friday night.
It is okay to have terrible days and be exhausted. Everyone has them but if I have one chill day on the weekend, I am right back to normal. The thing that I have learned is that I do need that one day (or two, or three, or…). This is not just teachers but every profession. I am going to sleep in on Sunday (which I probably really won’t) and feel better. Then I will be back to normal. Then again, at some point, I will be exhausted again.
I remember that I used to be embarrassed about this and feel guilty, but I guess that I am getting old enough to say it is totally fine.
Looking forward to Sunday 🙂
