DIARY OF A TEACHER ON BREAK

Hey teacher friends,

Raise your hand if you have not taken nearly enough time for yourself in the past (and by past I mean recent present). Are you raising your hand? I am. I've spent way too much time working this year, and while I'm proud of my accomplishments and the growth I see in my students because of it, I also know that focusing on work as much as I have is not healthy.

As I left school for winter break last week, I promised myself that I would not spend my entire break working. In fact, call me crazy, but I am not doing any school work this break. I am blogging and I am working on my TPT business a tad, but still definitely not full time. I am incredibly grateful to have a full 2 weeks off and intend to make the most of it. I asked teachers on Instagram this question to the right... and of course I didn't think to share the results on this blog in time.. but I do remember that most teachers selected "catch up on work" in this poll. 

I did not write this post to share every detail of my break with you. I wrote it to be honest about that fact that teachers NEED breaks. We need periods of time where we don't focus on work and we do enjoy our time off. I wrote it to hopefully inspire other teachers to do the same. If you're like me and struggle to keep a healthy work-life balance, I hope this post inspires you to get started. If you've been trying to be more intentional about taking time for you and for self-care, then please share in the comments how! I'm sure we'd all love to get more ideas on how we can better take care of ourselves :) Teachers are human too and we need rest.


DAY ONE: Busy Can Be Refreshing

Yoga has quickly become one of my favorite self-care activities. My daily routine used to be work, cook dinner, work, sleep. I'm bored just typing it. When my mother-in-law texted me to join her at a yoga class a few weeks ago, I was hesitant. Now, I'm incredibly happy that I went. I've seen positive impacts on my mood, health, and happiness.

Side Note: If you're looking for gifts for any kiddos in your life, I ordered this set of legos and Goldieblox from Amazon (not affiliate links) for the student birthday party I went to. A co-worker told me about Goldieblox and now that I ordered some as a gift, I'm thinking we need some for our classroom.

DAY TWO: Quality Time is Important

Sipping coffee quietly in the morning is one of my preferred way to wake up. Please tell me I'm not the only one that ends up rushing around drinking my coffee and getting ready during the work-week. It's an added bonus when I get to drink my coffee with my husband (we both know not to talk before finishing our first cups).

We also went to my mother-in-laws for a pre-holiday and early birthday celebration for my husband. Spending time with the ones we love is another great (not to mention, free) self care practice. 

DAY THREE: Christmas Shopping is Hard

It was difficult not to work today. This was the first day I had absolutely nothing on my schedule and I literally did not know what to do with myself. Then, when I couldn't find the Christmas gifts for my family that I wanted to find, well, even more panic set in. Let's just say thank goodness that I accidentally forgot to cancel my free trial of Amazon Prime a few months ago.

That nap was definitely a necessary self-care practice. Yoga too :)


DAY FOUR: Retail Therapy is Okay Sometimes

I am not a person that loves retail therapy. Actually, I often get buyers remorse. However, my purchases on Tuesday were necessary and some were even made with a gift card, yay! After my morning coffee, I went shopping for me :) Y

I bought 1 new outfit from the Loft Outlet (Yay for a 50% off sale!!) and a few accessories from Altar'd State, where I had a gift card to.

Another fun self-care practice: getting dressed up. When you don't get to do it often, makeup and hair can be fun :)

 

My fun finds from Altar'd State and some photo booth fun with hubby at the holiday party :) 

DAY FIVE: Lazy Days Are Totally Necessary 

Yep. Today was lazy. And that's ok! Oh and it was filled with puppy cuddles ... another self-care activity that I highly recommend.

I'm also completely willing to admit that I spent the entire day in my pajamas. Some days should be like this. I hope you'll have a completely lazy day in your near future too :)






DAY SIX: Being Productive Can Be a Form of Self-Care

Even though I spent the day at home, it was a productive day. And I think that days like this can be a form of self-care, because who doesn't feel good when they cross things off of their to-do list?
Hallmark movies are of course important for happiness too.

DAY SEVEN: Celebrations Are Fun

This day was my husband's birthday! Ok I know what you're saying ... well it's not anyone's birthday.. How am I going to have a celebration? The point I'm trying to actually make here is that we shouldn't have to wait until there's a reason to celebrate or spend quality time with people we care about. Get together with friends. Bake some cookies (or buy some to make life even easier). Spend quality time together without your phones. Just enjoy not working and be happy.

A few other things we can all do this break to take care of ourselves and our mental health include: spending time with family, Starbucks trips, going to the movies, baking, and spending time with friends. 

How do you plan to take care of you with the rest of the time you have left on break?