Balance

This last week was a long one in some ways. I was back to work onsite for the first time since March. I've been to the school in between that time, but this was the first official reporting to work at the school since we left for spring break March 12th. We usually have lots of professional development and I usually dread it b/c I want to be in my classroom working. This year we had one day of CYA trainings (sexual harassment, workplace safety, etc.) that are required by law and then a few other short meetings. We ended up with basically 2 full days to work in our rooms which was fantastic.

Kids are returning in person tomorrow. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more anxious than in a normal school year, but I still think that the admin & school board have made the right decision for our school. I think that the schools that have chosen to start out remote are making the right decisions for them too. I think each school and district needs to decide how they can best serve their staff and students.

Today I'm trying to get things done around the house - mow the lawn, pay the monthly bills, do the laundry... all the fun stuff. Every year the first week back is exhausting and while I can't change that, I can make sure that I don't have much household stuff in the evenings.

This first few weeks back to school are going to be all about trying to establish balance. I'm out of the habit after being home for so long, even when I was remote teaching last spring I could mostly set my own schedule as long as I was there for scheduled meetings with kids. Being back on "school time" is going to be difficult. Establishing a time for exercise is going to be really hard because that's usually the first thing to go when I get busy. I'll be trying to exercise at home right after school because I know that as soon as I sit down I'm done for the night. I'm awful at working out at home, so that may actually be the hardest thing of all for me. My gym is open, but until the mask order expires I will be working out at home because I don't want to wear a mask to work out. It's a choice I've made, and now I just need to follow through.

I'm usually one that stays late at school to get things done but this year the custodians will be spraying a disinfecting solution in our rooms at the end of the day, so in order to not make their jobs harder I need to figure out what time they are going to make the rounds and clear out before that. I will be bringing home more "homework" than usual (and I already bring a lot home) and my son will have to do his homework at home instead of in my room while waiting for me. It's going to be really hard for me to stop and walk away before I finish my day's work, but the custodians have a lot of extra work this year and I don't want to ask them to skip my room and come back later.

I will figure it all out, but it's going to be a steep learning curve for a few weeks. I need to remember to be grateful for all the blessings I have in my life and not get bogged down in the minutia of day to day. Why is it so easy to wallow in the negative while it takes a concerted effort to focus on the positive?