Are You Burned Out?
The Archangels Tell Us How to Avoid and Deal With It
Working in Education has always been stressful, but it’s so much more so now than it was when I started thirty years ago. The last few years I worked were monstrosities, and everyone, myself included, was burned out to the point where we started looking for other jobs. It was bad. Really bad. And that was before COVID struck.
After a particularly bad year, I sat at my desk and thought, I can’t go on like this. I was miserable, exhausted, and already dreaded going back to work after summer was over, and it had just started. I knew I could not go on like that for much longer. So, I decided to do what a good friend of mine recommended and keep my world small. I didn’t leave my classroom much that year. I focused on my job and my students. I closed out the problems and stress coming from the campus, district, state, and feds, and I just did what I was best at and taught my students to read better. I was lucky to be in a position where I made my own curriculum and had an established reputation of success and growth in my students, so people mostly left me alone. It was a much better year.
I haven’t been stressed out like that since I retired. I love retirement! I think I was born to be a retired person, because my life has never been better. It’s easy to not be burned out when…
