Don’t Let This Year Ruin Your Career Part I

We’ve spent a lot of time in conversation with hundreds of educators from across the country during this season of teaching, and one thing is very clear: teachers are TIRED. Like once upon a time there was this thing called “teacher tired” but that does not even compare to “teacher tired” during a pandemic. It’s next level. And this level of tired has left many to even question their place in this profession. Teachers feel isolated and for lack of a better way to state it, many even feel like they have become a prisoner to this pandemic. The teacher that we know we are capable of being has in a sense died to the teacher that the pandemic has forced us to become. 

Now let me make something very clear. This in no way means that teachers have given up. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. While the struggle has been more than real, every single educator has found ways to “pivot” (cue Ross Geller yelling PIVOT) and do as we’ve always done – we’ve continued to find ways to provide the best learning opportunities possible for our students. But the pivots, because at this point there have been too many to count, have taken every ounce of energy that we have left. They have caused us to make more sacrifices in both our professional AND personal lives than we can even count. Thus leaving us broken down and completely exhausted, and understandably so. 

As we hit our point of total exhaustion (btw…many of us are even well past this at this point in the game), our confidence shatters, we no longer have the capacity to “choose joy,” because sometimes this isn’t even possible, and we are left questioning what the heck we are even doing, and better yet how we can even continue one more day. While I feel like we have all, at some point or another, questioned our career in the difficult moments, during this specific season, the difficult moments seem never ending. It’s like we have just learned to juggle three balls and they toss us a fourth, and then a fifth, and a sixth in our direction, simultaneously. The reality is, this form of juggling is not sustainable. And eventually, as hard as we try, all the balls drop. Well, I don’t know about you, but in the world of the educators I have been talking to, the balls have dropped, rolled down the hill, and are far, FAR out of our line of vision in this moment. 

 So listen up tired teachers, if this is you, I want to tell you something(and I actually want you to hear it. You are not alone. You are not in fact wrong for feeling this way. And NO, this does not make you a bad teacher. In fact, in the hundreds of educators I have spoken to during this time, you are actually in the majority. This season is stinking hard, sometimes even unbearable. Period. 

 And while I wish I could provide you with the answer to end all of your troubles, I can’t. We are all still navigating this pandemic and striving just to take one step further each day. But, I will tell you that you don’t have to bear the burden alone. Lean on your community of educators. Allow them to carry you on the hard days, and then - when you’re able - you can return the favor. 

Speaking of our fellow educators, in all of my conversations, and through my own experience, I have collected some strategies that are not necessarily problem solvers, but are excellent mindfulness practices that will help us survive this year. Because for many educators, that’s exactly what this year is…survival. You can check out 6 mindful practices that will help make teaching sustainable even during a pandemic right here. 

 Be intentional about putting some of those mindful strategies to use. Along with mindful practices, I want to encourage you to not let THIS be the year that ruins your career. This year is not normal. It’s anything but normal. Let go of the teacher you were last year or the year before. They can and WILL return again. This will end, and we will be able to get back to the teaching styles that set our souls on fire for teaching. But allow yourself to at least just survive….for the kids. They need us to be there after this pandemic is over. 

 Now I have part II of this blog post coming. It’s an interview with an incredible educator, Kori Markussen. If you said “amen” of “yessss” to anything above, then her story is your story. You don’t want to miss it. Stay tuned….