My experience as a teacher
When I was a high school teacher, I was so dang busy that I often didn’t have time to stop and think about how dang busy I was. I woke at 5:00am (ew), dressed and readied myself, quickly made up my gigantic coffee, grabbed my lunch (if I had enough energy to make it the night before), and took off on a 45 min/35 mile commute to get to school by 7:45 (ish) for an 8:15 am start.
Begin period 1. Sip coffee. Give lesson. Stand and mosey through the classroom. Ask questions. Answer questions. No, you cannot Snap me in the middle of class. Yes, you may go to the restroom—take the pass. Pass out papers. Pick up papers. Maybe assign homework. Bell rings. Next class. Repeat. And so on, either 4 block classes (~1.5 hours each) or 8 classes (~45 min each) passed until it was finally 4:00 pm.
In between grading papers and entering grades, I’d eat my lunch—that is, if I wasn’t supporting a club or tutoring students. In between classes, I might run to the restroom—if I had time. I had 6 classes, 1 conference period, and 1 planning period. I had around 150 students, give or take, depending on the semester. 150 students, 150 names, 150 grades per assignment, 150 different learners.
4:00pm hits. I stay at school, planning classes, grading papers, replying to emails, filling out paperwork. At the end of a six-week grading period, I would sometimes find myself at school until it was dark outside, working until I was way past hungry.
Life outside of work
Monday through Friday, this was the routine. In my twenties, I found enough energy (with the help of pre-workout) to make myself go to the gym a few days a week before going home and (often) do more work for school, eat, and sleep. The hour at the gym, often 3ish times a week, was some of the little time I made for myself—that plus the occasional “retail therapy” on weekends which was more like a lot of window shopping. I got creative ballin’ on a teacher's salary.
Go to therapy, you say? When? How?
I am the type that has been busy all. my. life. When there isn’t something on the calendar, I’m not sure what to do with myself. For those first couple of summers as a new teacher I would enjoy the time off and rest at first, and then I’d start twiddling my thumbs after a month or so.
In the summer, we feel good. The sun’s out. We’re out. We take vacations. We see people more often. Commonly, we don’t go to therapy when we feel good.
However, what if good therapy can come from when we feel good? What if we’re able to sit and process—dare I say—better when we’re not in go-go-go mode? What if we have more emotional capacity to try new things, learn new skills when we’re not so burnt out we have to seek help?
Enter therapy
As a former high school teacher, I know what it’s like to hustle, to go through the day in, day out of this profession, and be thinking about the work, the students, sometimes their families and circumstances, at odd hours. If you’re having a hard time turning your mind off of work– I’m with you.
Had I known more about therapy in my early twenties, I think I could’ve benefited. There’s something about processing direction and balance that I so enjoy working with with clients now, and I wonder, in a world that seems so fast, how we all may benefit from a lil slow down.
Sure it may be odd to slow down after being so used to being busy. Ultimately it’s in the slowing down that we are able to appreciate and manage the busy.
Now, I advocate for the balance of busy with rest, and for a therapy that works for you in the time and space that you need it.
Can we help find that for you? If now is your time, let’s get some work done!
We’re so glad to have Rachel Keo at People Bloom Counseling, a Redmond psychotherapy practice in WA. She helps young adults and working professionals with life transitions. As a former high school teacher in TX and a Peace Corps Volunteer and Teacher in Albania, she also has a heart for working with school personnel. She’s seeing more and more clients working for the school district, and she loves what she does. She hopes to cross paths with you!