The more I read this book, the more I love it. If you haven't seen my previous posts, I am sharing my thoughts and ideas from the book Unshakeable by Angela Watson. It is such a great book, and as I've said before, I believe that EVERY teacher should read it! So, let's get started with Chapter 3...
Chapter 3 is all about establishing healthy habits for bringing work home and decompressing. Personally, I have a problem with the decompressing part. I am the type of person who lets things build up inside until I just want to blow up, but we all know that isn't healthy! :) I really learned a lot from this chapter about how and when to decompress. Angela talks about decompressing with ONE co-worker and how to choose that co-worker. As I've said before, I work with a building full of awesome people, but it is important that I find one person I can decompress with quickly on a regular basis. There are many reasons for this that she shares in the book. The one that stood out to me the most is the fact that "the more you talk about your problems, the more you allow those problems to take up space in your head." So, share that problem, find a solution, and LET IT GO. That's definitely the hardest part for me But, I have to. As teachers, we constantly have a thousand things on our plate (and that's just at school), and if we can't find ways to decompress and let things go, we are going to live a very stressed out and frustrated life, both at school and at home.
In my last post, I talked about how important it is to be efficient at work and how sometimes I might need to cut back on the socializing and chit chat and get to my room and WORK so that I am not spending hours after school or at home completing work. However, it is important that we still take the time to be sociable with our co-workers. Most of the time, they are the only ones who are going to truly understand what we are going through in this profession we all love. So, my goal is to keep a healthy balance. I can't spend every free minute I have socializing, but when I'm stressed or have an issue going on in my professional life, I DO need to reach out to others. A lot of times, they've been there and know just what to say to help me though it.
As far as bringing work home, a line that stood out to me was, "schoolwork tends to expand and take up however much time you allot, up to and including your entire evening or weekend." Isn't that the TRUTH? I can sit down to work on a lesson and 2 hours, 45 Pinterest posts, 15 blog readings, and 10 Teachers pay Teachers resources later, I'm still obsessing over this lesson. Please tell me I'm not the only one...
While all of these ways to reach out for resources and help from our teaching friends are WONDERFUL ways to collaborate, I have to remember to stay focused on the task at hand so that I am (again) making the most of my time.
One of my favorite things about this book is the fact that the author not only gives you so many ideas and truths to think about, but she also gives you advice on how to handle each one. For each issue or obstacle that could "shake us up" as teachers, she gives so many great tips for balancing and becoming a teacher that is NOT shaken up by these situations, even down to the task of assigning replacement thoughts in your mind for days you feel anxious or stressed about your workday. Trust me when I say I could write page after page about the advice she gives, but I want to save some of these tips for you to discover on your own as you read through the book.
Don't forget to pick up a copy of this book as soon as you get an opportunity. You will not regret it!
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