Burnout, Babies, and Big Life Changes

I think we all can agree that 2020 has been an unexpected year, but honestly, 2021 got even weirder...

The Burnout

I've experienced burnout before - when I worked in LA, I was used to working 50-60+ hours a week, spending most of my free time in the office, downtown at a game, or hunkered down in front of a laptop at home. During the day, I lived for daily 3:00 PM Starbucks runs with my boss so we could "have a meeting" (spoiler alert: we simply drank our coffees and enjoyed the sunshine).

When I started in LA, I thought this was my dream job - I couldn't imagine doing anything more exciting or more fun. But as the years (and playoff seasons) passed by, I was starting to become bitter and I wasn't thrilled with what that bitterness was doing in my personal life.

So when I was trying to figure out what to do, I turned to one of my most-trusted life-advisors: my dad. An educator of 38 years, he has more wisdom than most people I know. We discussed what it would take for me to switch careers, get my credential, and enter the world of education.

A brief visit back to the Home of the Titans and I was finally ready to take the education world by storm. I landed my first job outside of student teaching mid-way through the school year at the high school I graduated from back in the early 2000s.

As most teachers experience, the first few years were tumultuous in many ways: temporary contracts, parent phone calls ending in tears, passive aggressive emails, snooty lunch-room encounters, and learning how to make the classroom my classroom. Each time I felt like I got to a breaking point, I would call my dad, who encouraged me that all of these things are normal and that I will figure out how to deal with them. But each year, I kept coming back for more. I loved working hard on new units, new curriculum, and with new students every year.

Until the Spring of 2020.

I'll be honest - when our district told us everyone was getting a week off while they figured out what to do, I almost cried for joy. The 2020 school year had pushed me to edges I didn't even know existed and the people closest to me were starting to notice a not-so-subtle decline in my well-being.

I crawled through the finish line of the 2019-2020 school year, eager for a break and full of hope for a normal 2020-2021 school year (spoiler: the 2020-2021 was even less normal than the 2019-2020 school year).

Babies & Big Life Changes

Though we started the 2020-2021 school year as full distance learning, we were back in our classrooms by the end of September, teaching under the concurrent model. And I thought I was burnt out in the Spring...

Despite everything else in my life being a metaphorical dumpster fire, we got some exciting news in November: I was pregnant.

My husband and I were over the moon with excitement, but also a little bit worried about the on-going pandemic. After some long conversations with each other, the district, and my doctor, I finished the first semester of the school year and decided to take a step back through the end of the year.

Being home wasn't exactly what I expected it to be: I didn't exactly miss concurrent learning, but I missed doing something. I was fortunate enough to get a part-time job working with a small creative agency and taking on a role similar to what I did in LA, but there was still an itch to do something more.

I had heard about teachers putting their curriculum up on Teachers Pay Teachers, but I struggled to see how I could fit into that world. I'm not a tech-guru, my classroom has never been a tech-wonderland, and most of my curriculum is rooted in old-school practices. Not to mention I'm terrified of people telling me that my curriculum is absolute garbage.

But the more time I spent at home reflecting on my time in the education world, I realized that if the roles were reversed (I were a student asking my teacher-self for advice) I would encourage myself to take the leap of faith: I would never know unless I tried.

So, after more conversations (but many less tears) with my husband, the district, and my family, I decided that for the next year, I would be staying home with my daughter and focusing on helping both educators and students from home as best I can.

I genuinely have no idea what's going to happen, but I can tell you that I will be working my butt off, doing the absolute best that I can.

If you've made it this far, I would love for you to check back in the coming months for some update posts that discuss some of my favorite pieces of curriculum, how I taught them in my classroom, and some helpful ideas heading into the 2021-22 Post-COVID Classroom.