It's Ok to Rest

I'm Often Tired After a Week of Teaching...

(an introspective)

One thing I've noticed as a pattern - and it doesn't matter if I taught two days or five - is that I'm quite tired after a week of teaching.  My current schedule is M-Th, 7-hours a day.  During this time, I have to be 'on' the whole time.  At any point, on any day, almost any situation could occur.  Luckily for me right now, these situations are usually positive, so it's not about that; it's simply that being the one in charge, getting asked questions, and being the one required to deal with situations, is taxing on my body.  

I'm naming this, specifically, because it's been the case my entire career.  When teaching in traditional school, I loved to sleep in on Saturday.  If I had to wake up for something, I was off the rest of the day.  I loved having a period of time - from whenever I woke up Saturday, until I was sick of coffee - to answer no questions, to be 'off', and to have nothing demanded of me.  I cherished it.  I had to be good all week, keep a cool head all week, so Saturday a.m. was Tom Time.  

Few people understood it.  Roommates did not, people that worked in corporate settings did not.  They would want to get up early and do.  Their logic was like this: all week, you have to do what other people want, but this is your day, you should make the most of it. 

But that's not how it was for me.  All week, I had to be on.  I was addressed as a 'Mr.' (or now: Teacher Tom).  I was in charge.  This meant success or failure rested on me.  That's a big task.  Success, which feels good, is still taxing on the body, and having a down period is required for me.  

This post is actually - exactly - what this series is about.  I'm exploring these patterns via the written word.  What I just wrote is something I've felt for fifteen years, yet named for the first time today, 1/12/18.  You see, Fridays are the days I 'get' to write, which is amazing.  Since it is the only day I get to write, I put this burden on myself to be productive.  I must get up, I must do, I must create.  But I'm thinking, perhaps this isn't the best method.  Perhaps it would actually work better if I honored the teaching, rested, and then worked from that place of rest. 

I cannot do that today, obviously because I am up and just realized it, but I may give it a try next week.  

What I know, and how I'll end, is that honoring your body, listening to what it tells you, is much better than ignoring those messages.  Our bodies speak to us, and the more we listen, the better we communicate, with our selves and with the world.