do you ever feel like all your life consists of is your job? like you can never escape from the emails and tasks? you want to take a breather but there’s so much to do?
yeah. me too.
last year was my first year as a full-time elementary teacher, and i quickly became burnt out, stressed, and excessively emotional when i would work about 13 hour days and then on the weekends too.
sound familiar to anyone else?
i knew i needed a change, and this is what i do now to establish a healthy relationship with work and home life. i find that i do my best job at work when i can give it my all. and if i spend my whole evening doing work too, then, i go into work in the morning already feeling spent.
tip #1: don’t bring work home!
even if it seems work is piling up and needs to get done, it can wait. believe me. your mental and emotional health are more important than work tasks.
tip #2: take the weekend off of work.
i started not working on the weekends, and wow. i can’t express how nice it is. every once in a while i’ll check emails or make up work i missed from a day off, etc., but consistently setting aside that time to rest and recuperate is wonderful. and so needed!
tip #3: don’t let conversations about work take priority over close relationships.
especially being a teacher, it’s so easy for me to get talking about my cutie patootie students all evening long. and even though it’s fun and shows how much i care about them, sometimes i even realize it’s a bit much. i want my husband to know that when we are on date night, my focus is on him and not my classroom. same goes for time with friends and family. i’m still working on this one myself.
tip #4: take your time at work seriously.
with *trying* to not work on evenings and weekends, i get to work early to put in longer days to make sure i feel good about the work i am producing, and in my case, the lessons i am teaching. i can’t take weekends off from work and then also show up right on time or even a couple minutes late to work. i need to show my boss and myself that i am putting in my best efforts.
tip #5: give yourself grace
this all takes time, practice, & discipline. don’t beat yourself up if you check your email at night or spend some time prepping work stuff on the weekend. we all have those days or weeks that are extra busy and require extra work.
you got this!!
tia marie
tia marie 