Tired.

The past couple of weeks have been rough. I honestly just feel tired and overwhelmed. I know that many of us are feeling that way at this point. It's not that I'm unhappy with what I'm doing, it's simply that life itself is taking over and many different feelings rush in. There are so many things that are going on that it is difficult to maintain a steady pace and stay ahead. No matter how hard I plan and organize, I find myself discouraged and drained at the end of every day. While trying to juggle my family, my friends, a home, lesson plans, fall festivals, 5 classes, learning experiences, and work, you tend to forget about yourself.

There are a few things that I want to share with you this week.

First, I want you to understand that I don't regret anything that I'm doing. I love the path that I have taken. I love the place where I'm headed. And I appreciate all of the opportunities that God has given me. I simply want to make sure that I am living a healthy, positive life, while also keeping in mind what is important.

Next, I want you to learn how have began to cope with this stress. My biggest life support over the past few weeks has been my quite time. Let me say that I am so thankful to be a part of a Christian University where I can share this kind of thing with you all. Without the grace of God, I literally could not go another day through this chaos. Taking time each day (especially at the beginning of each day) to pray and talk to Jesus makes my day 1000 times better. I find that if I skip this time, it often results in negative thoughts and bad attitudes. I use this time for different things every day. Maybe I'm praying about my students, maybe I'm praying about a particular learning experience, or maybe I'm simply using this time to say thank you. Either way, this is the most important part of my routine.

Next, I want to share a very special book with you.

“What kills a soul? Exhaustion, secret keeping, image management.
And what brings a soul back from the dead? Honesty, connection, grace”
― Shauna Niequist, Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living

Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist has been an inspiration to me over the past few weeks. This is book about finding what is necessary, finding who is important, forgetting the busy, concentrating on grace, settling for simplicity, giving up on being perfect, living in the present, and enjoying God's peace. This is something that 21st century people aren't use to doing (especially American's), because the expectation is that we go go go. Why though? What's the purpose? Finding what is important to you and focusing on those things will change your life.

Finally, I found a simple blog on eduptopia about rest. The blog basically talks about a first year teacher that found herself exhausted and almost broken. She wanted to find a way to build herself back up and become the best teacher that she could be. After 20 years of teaching, she has found a way to keep herself healthy, sane, and thriving. Her three recommendations are:

"1. Sleep is imperative.

Author Arianna Huffington writes about the importance of sleep in her book Thrive. Fifty-nine percent of women report being sleep deprived, and 50 percent say that they sleep less than six hours per night. Men aren't far behind. She reminds us that when we're sleep deprived, we're prone to illness, stress, traffic accidents, and weight gain. So during the past year, I've overhauled my sleep practices, researching and renewing my commitments to nurturing great sleep habits.

The National Sleep Foundation reports that most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night to feel fully rested. Clinicians suggest improving our sleep patterns by keeping a regular schedule; sleeping in a dark, quiet, well-ventilated space with a comfortable temperature; avoiding stimulating activities within two hours of bedtime; avoiding caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol in the evening; and avoiding going to bed on a full or empty stomach.

2. Create sanctuary.

You can give yourself the gift of creating sanctuary: a moment or experience with spaciousness. Maybe it's on your morning commute, curled up in your favorite armchair, or mindfully indulging in a hot cup of herbal tea. Maybe it's the first five minutes of the day -- just five -- set aside for meditation or journaling. Finding ways to create sanctuary are necessary, restful practices giving us the room to rejuvenate.

This week, I sat with one of my teachers who described checking into a local hotel, indulging in a king-sized bed, ordering yummy and healthy room service, and just enjoying the space to breathe. Her experience reminds me that designing what we need to nourish our sacred work is an important investment.

3. Cultivate gratitude.

Listing my offerings of thanks in my journal is something that I've done for years. For my 40th year, I cultivated a more intentional practice of handwriting a quick thank you note each weekday morning and mailing them all at once on the weekend. It was the discipline of noticing people around me who were contributing, making a difference, going above and beyond. However you practice gratitude, it requires moments of reflection, focus on the good, and a perspective shift. Practicing gratitude helps us focus on what matters most.

Research shows us that cultivating a gratitude practice is restful and rejuvenating. In the study "Counting Blessings Versus Burdens" (PDF), Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough describe how, each evening over a seven-day period, participants wrote down what they were grateful for. At the end of that week, participants in the gratitude group reported fewer health complaints and even spent more time exercising than those in the control groups. Other descriptors of the gratitude group include: more joyful, enthusiastic, interested, attentive, energetic, excited, determined, and strong."

Maybe this blog doesn't seem like a lot to you this week. Maybe you don't find yourself any better of a teacher now than you were before. Maybe you didn't find it meaningful or with any depth to it. If that's the case, I'm glad, because that means that you haven't reached this point yet. However, I have a feeling that at some point, you will reach this feeling of exhaustion. At that point, you're going to be looking for some relief. I really hope that these small, simple, yet truly effective points will help you push through. 

Rather we really realize it or not, this really applies to many of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards. I would argue that it applies to all of the standards in some way, but especially standard 2. If we can't first take of ourself, we won't be able to take of our students. Teaching them ways to cope with their own stress, learning to take care of themselves, and the importance of rest will take students a long way. We can create positive and nurturing relationships with students by teaching them things as simple as this.

Click the link below to read more:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/rest-the-antidote-for-discouragement-karine-veldhoen