Teachers, Why Sitting Still Feels Wrong, Even in Summer

Why Sitting Still Feels Wrong — Even in Summer.

You made it to summer. The calendar is finally open. There is nowhere to be and nothing due. And yet — something in you will not let you be still.

You feel restless on a day with nothing planned. You say yes to something before you have had one full week off. You hear that quiet voice in the back of your mind telling you that a good teacher is already thinking about next year.

That voice has a name. And in this episode, we are naming it.

This week on Teaching Without Losing Yourself — The Podcast, we go one layer deeper into the Calling Trap. We introduced it last week as the belief that teachers who care a lot should sacrifice a lot. This week we look at what happens when that same belief follows you right into summer — to your couch, to your favorite beach, to your slow barefoot mornings — and why sitting still starts to feel like falling behind.

This is not about motivation. This is not about getting more out of your summer. This is about seeing the pattern that is quietly stealing your rest. Because awareness changes everything. And once you can name the voice, it starts to lose its grip.

Week two of June. Come sit with us. 💚

🎙️ Teaching Without Losing Yourself — The Podcast 📦 July box is open: https://afterthebells.org/pages/after-the-bells-subscription-box

We’re not here to fix.
We’re here to notice. 

If this helped, pass it to another teacher who might need it. 

Until next time… 

give yourself the same care you give everyone else.

 ~Kim 🌿 

Transcript

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So let's talk about something that happened to me this week, teachers. I had a full day written on my schedule. And you know what was written on it? Nothing. No meetings, no calls, no social media, no boxes, nothing. It was just a day. I sat on the couch with every intention of doing absolutely nothing. And then within about 10 minutes or so, I got up. I started moving about and moving things around in the kitchen, wiping off my counters and my appliances. I started on the grocery list for next week. I never do that. I opened my computer and I checked on my content schedule and what I needed to create. And then I noticed, oh my gosh, I noticed I am out of school. I don't even have my word computer with me. So I made sure I didn't have that. It's summer. And I went from nothing to do to several things to take care of. And I thought to myself, at this point, why is this so hard? Why can't I just sit here and relax? Does that sound familiar to any of you? I mean, you are officially on summer break, teachers, and this is your moment. You've waited for this, right? The school year is over, you have nowhere to be, and nothing due to anyone, not a deadline in sight. But something inside of you will not let you simply be still. You feel restless on a day with nothing planned, and guilty of all things, teachers, guilty for enjoying a slow morning. You switch from enjoying that barefoot, relaxing morning to saying yes to something before a week goes by. Or you hear that quiet voice in the back of your mind, the one that says all the time, a good teacher is taking this kind of time to think about next school year. Teachers, that voice has a name. And today we're gonna name it. Welcome back to Teaching Without Losing Yourself the podcast. I'm Kim. After 28 years in education, I realized I couldn't get teachers what they needed within the system, so I decided to support teachers from outside the system instead. That's why this podcast exists. This is After the Thells Beyond the Box, a moment made just for teachers, even on the move. Everything we talk about here is built around this simple belief. Teachers, you can stay in education. You can stay in teaching without losing yourself in the process. Our goal is always to help you see what is getting in the way of that, so you can see things more clearly than you did yesterday. Welcome back guys to week two of June. Oh my gosh, it's already going fast. Last week we named the crash, okay? That confusing, heavy, not the way you expect it feeling that shows up in the first days after the school year ends. If you can remember, we talked about the body releasing 10 months of high alert all at once. That's called leisure sickness. The very weird, real, very, very documented thing that happens when your nervous system finally gets permission to let go of those long 10 months of being on high alert and how it does it all at once. Feel free to go back and listen to week one as soon as you can. This week we're gonna go a layer deeper. Because here's what's is what's happening after that crash, okay, guys? Once that initial exhaustion starts to lift, and for some of you is not, I've been looking at comments for some teachers that week is turning into two. But once that initial exhaustion starts to lift, something else moves in a restlessness, a pull, a voice that tells you that you should be doing something with all this open time, you know, that empty calendar. And most teachers listen to that voice without even stopping to ask, where did that come from? Today we're asking that question because once you know where that voice comes from, you start to hear it differently. We have talked about the calling trap before, and share that you would hear a lot about it. The calling trap, guys, is the belief that teachers who care a lot should sacrifice a lot. And we talked about how it drives teachers through the school year, through the exhaustion, through the behaviors, through the parent emails, through all of it. Because the profession tells you that you, if you care deeply, it means that you should give endlessly. The calling trap is what I call a root driver because it is one of our deepest pressures that we have. I want you to understand that the calling trap does not clock out when the school year ends. The expectation that those who care a lot should sacrifice a lot is still there. It remains. It follows you home, it follows you into June, it follows you to your nice, comfy couch, to your favorite beach, to that slow barefoot morning when you finally have nowhere to be. It follows you relentlessly, follows you, and it sits comfortably right next to you, like it belongs there. And it whispers, Teacher, you should be doing something. It is not whispering to you because you're lazy or because you don't deserve rest. It whispers to you because after 10 months of operating under the belief that you should always be doing something, thinking something, planning something, your nervous system has learned that stillness equals failure. Sitting perfectly still starts to feel like you are falling behind, even when you don't have anything on your schedule. A day with nothing planned starts to feel like a wasted day. And the longer you rest, attempting to enjoy the moment, the day, the louder the voice gets. Have you ever felt like the more you attempt to rest, the more uneasy and unrested you feel? How strange is that? I have, guys, I am right there with you. Teachers, this is not discipline, that is not dedication, that is that sneaky calling trap running in the background of your summer the same way it ran in the background of your school year. And most teachers never recognize it for what it is because, guys, it just feels familiar, it feels like who you are. But I want you to know it is not who you are, it is a pattern. And teachers, patterns, once you see them, start to lose their grip on you in your life. It's all about seeing it. Let's chat a little bit about what this looks like in real life in the first weeks of summer. I want you to think about that feeling you have when you sit down to rest, like really sit down, like with nothing on your agenda, and within 10 minutes, you're back on your feet doing something. Okay, we just kind of talked about that. Does that sound familiar to any of you? Has that happened to any of you? I just told you it happened to me. Know that my hand is raised just with you. If you are raising your hand saying, That's me, that's me. You come out of that rest state so quickly. Not because there's really something that needs to be done, but because just sitting feels wrong. And there it is again. That calling trap again. It is not you guys, it is your nervous system, a nervous system that has been running a predictable pattern for 10 months and it does not know how to stop. Maybe you haven't been there before. Let's try something else. What about this? You are a week into summer, and a friend, a good friend, ask if you want to get together. And before your brain can even process the question, you say yes. Not because you really want to go or because you have the energy to do that. And yes, that does take energy, but because your schedule is open, and saying no felt like you were being selfish and avoiding a friend. I mean, you're not working, so shouldn't you be available? Shouldn't you just say yes? Yep. I hope some of y'all are getting this pattern here. Some of you may have just guessed it. It's back again. The call-in pattern, excuse me, the call-in trap. It is telling you that open time on your schedule means that your answer should be yes, I can do it. There's nothing on my schedule. I'm yours. That your open time belongs to everyone else first. Or maybe this, maybe that's not something you've experienced. Maybe it is you sitting in a quiet moment, and then a thought intrudes upon that piece. The thought is that you should be thinking about next school year. I mean, remember, there are new standards, and your students are going to be tested on them next year, since remember, we've already had a year to practice with them, so now it gets real, and those standards are real, and they're going to be tested on those. Maybe I should be looking over those new standards. Instead of ignoring that idea, you lean into it, knowing that a good teacher is always thinking ahead. A good teacher knows how valuable a head start into the year can be. I mean, you are really just being responsible with your time, right? Rests without purpose is indulgent, right? Teachers, do you hear that voice? That's the voice we're naming today. So, teacher, there is a reason that voice is so loud right now. Your brain spent 10 months learning one thing. Keep moving. Because the moment you stopped, something fell. So your brain learned, it learned that stillness is risky. It learned that open time is dangerous. It learned that the moment you stop moving, something will fall, and that learning does not disappear on the last day of school. It's still there, guys. It is still running, it is still protecting you from a threat that isn't that it's not even there. The school year is over, but your brain doesn't know that. And on top of that, on top of that, there's a culture around teacher summers, and that doesn't help either. Teachers hear it all the time. Make the most of your time off. Use your summers wisely, rest, but also grow. Recharge teachers, but also prepare. And what starts as well-meaning advice turns into one more version of the same message the calling trap has been sending to you all year. Your value is what you produce, even in rest. No, that's not true. Teachers, awareness changes everything here. If you don't hear anything from me at any point, keep that in mind. Being aware can change things. Because the moment you can hear that voice and recognize it for what it is, you have a choice. Okay, think about June. Choose joy. You have a choice not to silence it, not to fight it, just to see it. To see it. I want you to be able to say, There it is. That is the calling trap. That is not the truth about who I am or what I need right now. That is where the change starts. Awareness. Teachers, you need to know that when the calling trap runs unchecked through your June and your July, you do not actually rest. You perform rest, you take time off, but you keep finding little things to do just to feel like you're not wasting it. You go on vacation, but you bring your laptop with you, or take your laptop with you. Language arts teacher. You sleep in, but you spend the extra hour scrolling through those teacher resources. You protect your mornings, but only after you've answered the emails that came in overnight. And yeah, I'm talking about summer. I must say, teachers, I see so much in me that it kind of feels embarrassing. Even though this is the work I do, my work is awareness and teacher sustainability. I still do these same things. My laptop goes everywhere with me. I bought a purse just for the laptop. You never know what you're gonna need, right? So know this, teachers. I'm not pointing fingers at you. I am holding a mirror up to myself, too. The cost of this accumulates a little at a time, day after day of almost resting, week after week of meaning to slow down and not quite getting there. And by the time August arrives, you are slightly less depleted version of yourself. You are slightly less depleted version of who you were at the end of May. And you walk back into that building carrying everything you never fully put down. Teachers, the summer is really the only moment you have to rebuild yourself before you enter the cycle once again, and it is a cycle. The pattern in teaching and education is amazing. Um, we are constantly in a loop. Okay, but as you try to rebuild yourself, you try to do so, the calling trap is still whispering in your ear that you have much to do before you may enter. And there you are, teachers, stuck, wondering why it keeps feeling this hard to do this work. Teachers, I'm not asking you to silence the voice, I'm not asking you to fight the voice. Okay, I'm not asking you to build a system to help you even ignore it. No, that that's not what you need. What I'm asking you to hear is to do is just to hear it. I want you to know it. I want you to be aware that it exists, and then I want you to call it out when you see it. That's the power. The next time you feel that pull, that restlessness, that guilt, that quiet sense that you should be doing something. I want you to stop for just a second and name it. Not out loud, unless you kind of want to, but just to yourself. Say, there it is. Yep, that's the calling trap. Whispering that if I care a lot, I should sacrifice a lot. Remember at that point that the calling trap is wrong, that it does not speak the truth to you. That is it. That is a shift for this week. Teachers, you are growing in your awareness, you're getting stronger because you are noticing it. Next week, we're gonna talk about the pressure that comes from the outside, the make your summer count message that shows up everywhere. But it's really, guys, that same old high-pressure calling trap dressed in a different, not so cute, outfit. And you are starting to know it when you see it. But for now, just name that voice. Teachers, you deserve a summer that actually feels like one. So this is week two, guys, of June. Two weeks in, two things named the crash with leisure sick with leisure sickness and how they work together, your body releasing two months of high alert all at once. Real is normal, and now you know what it is. And now the calling trap, the belief that teachers who care a lot should sacrifice a lot. The voice that follows you to your couch, to your vacation, to your slow mornings, the one that whispers you should be doing something, that's the voice that you've named to. You are not broken for feeling restless, you are not lazy for wanting to still sit. You are not a bad teacher for not thinking about next year yet. You are someone who has been running a very long race, and you are finally slowly learning to stop. As always, we're doing this slowly, one layer at a time, together, until next time. Teachers, give yourself the same care you give everyone else.