I know some educators in the US returned to the classroom already, but today was my first day back at my school. Luckily, today is a professional development day, so I will not see students until tomorrow. Even if students would have returned today, I would have been fine. I learned halfway through my career that I should complete my lesson plans before winter break starts. This allows me to fully enjoy the break without the looming dread of sitting down and working on plans during the break.
The month leading up to break was stressful. I had a lot on my plate and I needed to make some decisions. I went to Jackson, Mississippi to spend time with my husband’s family. It is a great place to relax and for me to clear my mind and refocus for the next year. Two years ago when I was there, I decided to try my hand at becoming an education writer. That was a good decision that opened many doors and opportunities for me.
Here’s what I decided while I was there this time:
- Look into another doctoral program. I don’t like my current one. Pursing education is too expensive to not like what you are doing.
- Start a podcast. The Educator Room’s asked if I would consider doing a podcast called Brazen Education under their umbrella of work, and I agreed. The first episode, “How to Leave Your School” was released December 31, 2018.
- Spend more time with my sons. I want to make sure they know they are important to me and that I am involved in their lives.
These might sound like resolutions, but they are not. I don’t do resolutions for the new year. I do goal setting around the birthday in August, and I use school breaks to reflect and reevaluate my goals. For example, number one and two, I pondered about during Thanksgiving break but didn’t come to any solid conclusions at the time on what my next steps should be.
Most importantly, now that I am back to the grind, I want to make sure I am using my time wisely and following through on my goals. I’ve seen so many, actually too many, gifs and memes about what people are cutting out of their lives in 2019. I don’t need the year to change to evaluate my life. My tips to you as you get back to the grind is to evaluate what you want for the rest of this school year or calendar year. If you didn’t think about this during the break, you can think about this now. It is never a bad time to reevaluate your life and decisions. Getting bad to the grind can be hard, but it can be even harder if thoughts are rolling around your head that you haven’t work through.
Don’t let the grind wear you down. If you get to Friday and you feel twice as bad as you did when you hobbled across the line to begin winter break, take a moment and set some goals for yourself. Also, find an accountability partner to help you stay focused. Until next week!
Also, my next podcast episode drops on iTunes tomorrow at 6 a.m. It is called, “How to Diversify Your Career Options in Education.”