Kristen Donegan 00:02
Hey there, if you are a teacher who gets the Sunday night blues Sunday night, skerries, whatever you want to call them, today's episode is for you. Now, before we get started, I want you to know that it's true. Good teachers get the Sunday night blues; maybe not-so-good teachers get the Sunday night blues hit doesn't mean anything's wrong. It doesn't mean you don't love teaching, or your profession, it means you're simply human. I wrote a blog post about this Gosh, in 2016, because I was feeling the same way. And really, you guys, if you think about it, right? Why would you want to go to work? And not to say, you know, it's not because you love teaching and that whole thing, but like, wouldn't you much rather lounge around in your pajamas?
Get to pee whenever you want get to hang out with your kids. Like, do your own thing. Yeah. That's why it's so hard when you're on vacation, right to come home, because you're like, I'm loving this life. Well, same thing in your regular life. Okay, that's totally, totally fine. So nothing's wrong. So when you see that stuff on social media and things like that, like you shouldn't dread going to work. It's not that you're dreading the actual work. You're just loving being home. More. All right? So we're clear on that? Yes, it's okay to feel this way. And it's not just a teacher thing. I think people make it into like, only teachers feel this way.
No, I remember, my husband would get so bummed every Sunday, I'm like, What's going on with you? And eventually figured out yes, because he has to go to work tomorrow. I mean, my goal in life was to feel at a leisure, loved teaching, but I much rather, you know, lounge around on my Flamingo, float, you know, reading a good book. So we got that we're clear on that. So here's what I did, though, when I found myself getting them often. Or if I started to get the real like, Dread, like, I really don't want to go to work, I'm drained, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. It's the time of the year where things are challenging whatever it may be.
So I'm going to share with you three simple things that you can do this week, to help maybe alleviate the Sunday night blues or make them you know, not so intense. So here's what I did. I looked at my week, I looked at my life, and I'm like, why am I getting these? Oh, it's because I'm doing fun things on the weekend, or because I'm, you know, lounging around, or whatever it is. So I started to be more intentional, with fun, and scheduling out things that I needed to nourish myself. So I like to use this metaphor inside the 3pm teacher. And so essentially, there's the metaphor of a garden, and we need our garden to grow. And in order to be a really good teacher, you know, we need boundaries, and systems or routines and different things like that. Cool.
That's the whole teaching part. But where we often feel off balance, and why sometimes the work week is challenging, is because the other things that we need to really make us feel whole and happy are missing. So the things like maybe cooking a meal, or working out or seeing your friends, or whatever it is, try to bring more of that back into your life during the week. Now I get it, there's busy schedules and shuttling kids to all the different places. But really pick start small, pick one thing, maybe it's going to your favorite workout class, or maybe wake it up a little early and going to yoga. Or maybe your spouse can watch the kids. And you can go to dinner by yourself like that's my favorite thing to do is to do that and bring a book, or meet a friend, whatever, whatever it may be.
But I found that when I started doing that, it made me a little bit more excited, especially to go into work that day, because I've got this this, this cool thing happening after school, rather than just you know, doing all the school things and then rushing home and it comes a little routine as you're cooking dinner and getting the kids ready for bed and all that. So make a list of what do you want more in your life. Because you know, teaching has gotten so busy and is consumed a big chunk of it that you want to start bringing back so that you aren't living for the weekends and so during the week, maybe isn't as often in the weekends but it can be better than it is right now.
Now the second thing is I meant Jen being intentional with my time and scheduling out fun. I know, it's easier said than done sometimes, especially with all the different schedules. Right now my husband travels a lot. It's really challenging to do that, but I am doing it. I said, If I don't do it for myself, it's not going to happen. He's not going to be scheduling fun out for us. He's not going to be scheduling it out for me, so I got to do it. So what I like to do, you know, maybe it's the beginning of the month, or maybe it's Sunday, whatever it is. But I like to kind of see what's coming up, what's something cool we can do, maybe my husband and I can go to a movie, if he's home, or I had a friend Reach out.
And tonight actually, we're going to a paint and wine night. So those are kind of the things that I wouldn't typically do. But it's fun. It's different. And it helps me get out of the rut of the same old, same old, can you relate to that? Is your life looking like that a little bit now where it's like, gosh, I have to figure out dinner again, I just did it yesterday. It's just the never ending task list. All right. And then the third thing, and I kind of hit on this is but to kind of let go of the guilt. It's okay to not want to go to work tomorrow. Why? Because the Work is work. And being at home, or going away for the weekend or other things more fun. Just you know, maybe is maybe I'm speaking too much on that.
But for me, it was I love teaching I was really, really good at it. Loved, you know, most of my kiddos No, I they were great. But you know, they're okay, I'm not gonna get off topic. But I also loved being at home more. And maybe it's my personality, but like, if I could sleep forever, I would do that. That makes me so happy. So we want to do more happy. So bring more happy back and release the guilt. Nothing is wrong. It doesn't mean anything about you. As the person you are, it just means you're human. And if you had a choice between lounging around and going to work, I know what most people would probably choose. So nothing's wrong.
Got it? Are we clear? So I want to know what are you going to do? Next week? What are you going to do to either nourish you schedule out fun, or release the guilt? Let me know over on Instagram at easy teaching tools tag me in your stories. And I want to see so I can celebrate you because remember, even good teachers get the Sunday night blues and it's okay. All right. sending you lots of love. I appreciate you being here and I can't wait to see what you do to bring some happiness and some fun back into your life. Now go make that list that's doing something good for you. Fun for you for this week. And I will see you soon.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
teaching, life, work, fun, scheduling, blues, teacher, week, love, lounge, kids, nourish, husband, guilt, sunday, home, wrong, sunday night, kiddos, dinner