Sorry, blog that I’ve neglected again. You are going to be the vehicle for this post and then I’m going to leave you alone for awhile. Life is just a bit too full to be able to focus on you right now. We’ll see if you can get come TLC come summer.
Every year, I’m one of those people that bemoans resolutions, and every year, I’m still one of those people who jumps on the bandwagon with two feet. I hate resolutions because I, like so many others with little resolve, don’t stick with them. But upon reflection, I realize that it is because of the tremendous amount of short- and long-term goal setting I do professionally that I don’t necessarily worry about my personal resolutions.
This year is going to be the year of my personal life.
I’m sure I won’t actually stick with my resolutions, but an attempt is still progress from nothing.
- Leave work at 5:00 pm every night unless I have a meeting, and reserve lesson planning for Sunday mornings only.
This is going to be hard for me because lately, it seems like I’ve been leaving three or more hours later and spending my entire weekend working. With my super long commute, this resolution will put me home at 6:30 pm and allow me to have some family time each evening (and avoid burning out). That still puts me at 50 work hours during the week (68 with the commute) but for a teacher, that’s pretty fantastic. I’ve got to really push myself to say, “Does this HAVE to be done?” before continuing to sacrifice my support system. - Eat smaller portions and make smarter choices.
I’m not going to put the cliché down because it won’t happen. But I do have an accountability buddy and work BFF that will kick my butt if she sees me making poor choices. Sure, I need to lose weight, but realistically I need to be healthier and that takes a lifestyle change, not a diet. One thing this includes (sadly) is the switch from Venti Caffe Mochas to Tall Skinny Caffe Mochas, and another is slowly switching to unsweet (or drastically less sweetened) iced tea. - Up my “me” time.
Currently, I take “me” time every Saturday morning in the form of a bath and some Pinterest on my iPhone. I want to start building in 10-15 minutes a day of just being alone and doing whatever I want. - Get more spiritual.
I’ve let my relationship with God wander a bit. Not that my faith is shaken or I am having doubts, but I am just not investing in the relationship like I used to and like all relationships without work, it’s suffering. I want to actively add more prayer (and possibly church) back into my life. - Take more pictures.Of the boys. Of myself. Of stupid things I think looks cool. Of everything and anything. I used to take so many photos all the time, for multiple reasons. I miss that side of my life. My DSLR probably can’t be resurrected, but I do have an iPhone that I don’t use nearly enough.
- Read more books.
Oh, I read plenty. I read scholarly journal articles and books presenting the newest teaching methods and blog posts on a variety of educational, political, and cultural topics, but I rarely read fiction anymore. I’m not up on the latest great published stories, ranging from YA up to my absolute fave, women’s fiction (please don’t confuse with romance novels!) and it flat-out sucks. I miss getting lost in a story and mourning the end of a good book and being thoroughly pissed because something was left unexplained. I’m following Bonnie’s Book Club suggestions and adding others in as I can. - My ONE job-based resolution? Survive this year and prepare for the next.
This year, I started a program that hasn’t really existed in my district before. There were a lot of variables that neither myself nor my principal could articulate when we created this program without diving in and sorting through as we went. I would still jump in head first to this job if I were being offered the position again knowing what I know now, but I have a ton of work to do to get us even remotely in the ballpark of where we need to be. The problem is that there is no way for me to possibly accomplish this during the school year with my current commute. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Even if there were, however, I would still have no personal life and no family life, so I need to focus on doing the best I can right now and hammering out a few full 60 hour weeks of work on the program during the summer. From then on, it should be revision and resource-finding instead of this craziness I’ve been trying to maintain for the past five months.
I don’t think my resolutions could be more comprehensive. I need to get back to being me and not lose myself in my job. Happiness is an overarching concept, after all 🙂
Two Blue Pillars 