Breaks are amazing. Breaks for teachers are like gold. We (or at least I do) think, “Oh man, I’m going to get SO MUCH done!” or “Oh man I am SO EXCITED to relax!” or if you’re like me, both. Seems kind of contradictory right? That is my life! Most of us have seen the post floating around social media that says “My mind is like an internet browser, 19 tabs open, 3 of them are frozen, and I have no idea where the music is coming from.” and I would say I definitely agree with that. Seriously, I cannot get anything done because I am constantly thinking of the next thing before I had the time to do the first!
Let’s take naptime for an example. My son is 15 months, so sometimes he takes one nap and sometimes two. Can’t really expect that I’m going to get any other time to myself. So I put him down and think, “I am going to workout” but then walk out to the living room and see all the toys I have to clean up first. Decide that I really need to shower and don’t have time to clean up the toys, then do a 20 minute workout, then shower. Never know if he’s going to wake up early! So I shower, and decide I really need to get some work done. So I sit on the couch with my computer and turn on the new Netflix show “Tidying up with Marie Kondo” in the background. But then I get HOOKED and get really motivated to start cleaning and organizing. So I start doing that, but then I need to get ready because we have a playdate when Hudson wakes up. Oh, and I still haven’t eaten breakfast. Why didn’t I do that when Hudson was eating? So I should probably eat something. I’ll get his lunch ready while I’m at that. Ugh but look at all these dishes I’ll start working on that. Darn, but now Hudson is waking up.
WHAT. THE. HELL. As you can see I actually got NOTHING DONE while Hudson was sleeping. How do I combat this? Any ideas? I’ve tried writing stuff down, but I end up losing my list somewhere in the shuffle from one place to another.
But back to the start of this post: Breaks. I had all the intention to get lots done during this break. I was going to relax, keep my house clean, spend time with my son, SLEEP IN (lets be honest this was just a dream because I have a 15 month old), read a couple books, and get some stuff done for my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Now, I did do some relaxing, that was nice.
But really anything I was SUPPOSED to get done, I didn’t. I’m not really looking forward to going back to work because I feel like my break shouldn’t be over. I didn’t get enough done! And now I have to get back to reality and back to being too exhausted to do ANYTHING (#teacherlife). But maybe the 2019 goals and motivation will continue. Maybe I’ll figure out how to sort out all the tabs in my brain (I’m officially making that my goal).
I guess my point is that if you feel this way, you aren’t alone. If you don’t feel that way, then I guess I’m alone. I’ll make it work!
Any tips to sort out my brain tabs? How do you keep everything straight and get it all done? I would love to see how people do it!