I said at the outset that this was my summer of saying "no"... No to extra conferences, no to things that took me away from my family, no to extra work.
That worked out, and didn't. I only attended one conference, a Scholastic Summit in Chicago. It was fabulous as I reconnected with friends I rarely get to see and presented to a group of wonderful educators. So I traveled less for sure.
And yet, I did add stuff to my ever growing plate. I decided to help create a community wide reading program for my town this October. I wrote 13,000 words towards something that I wasn't sure what it would become. It turned out it was just a reflection, but still, it took time. I shuttled my kids to an ever growing number of practices, games, and friends' houses.
What I noticed, however, is that while I did say "no" to most that came my way, and "yes" to a select few, this summer was good for me. I'm horrible with balance. When I'm reading a lot, I write very little. When I cook a lot, cleaning takes a back seat. In the quiet time of this summer when I got a chance to reflect, I realize that my balance in work versus life has been off for some time. I set out to reclaim that balance.
Teaching is an interesting job. The more you pour into it, the more that you need to do. I love my job. I often joke that it isn't just a job, it's my hobby as well. I love to read children's books, to plan lessons, to write - I selected my profession well. Yet this summer, I began to wonder, there is more to me than teaching, right? I feared I had lost myself in my love of what I do.
Finding my balance again is tricky. I can easily slip into the mindset that I'm not reading enough children's / YA books, that I'm not blogging enough, that I need to write a book, find more conference, go work in my classroom. No matter how much I do, there is still more. This isn't to say that I'm going to stop doing the above either, I'm just going to let it stop consuming me.
In the new found spaces I found time to hang out with friends more, go out with Chris on more dates, listen to the sounds of my boys playing video games float up from the basement while I danced out to Hozier's Work Song as I cook dinner. And I'm going to read romance novels. Lots and lots of them, because I forgot how much I like them. (Great article on romance novels here.)
I'm following in the steps of my new found heroine, Maxine Waters, and reclaiming my time. Because I have a funny feeling that at the end of my days, hopefully many years from now, this is the stuff that will matter for me - these faces above, my friends, time spent with my family and pets, long lazy afternoons surrounded with my home and books I adore. I'm saying yes to more of all of this during this school year.
And friends, you find your time too. Our students are beautiful. We can love them and have our own lives as well.
Reclaim your time.
Reclaim what you love.
Reclaim you.
