I started this blog and THRIVE.zim education almost 2 years ago, to share my personal journey to THRIVE as an educator. I’ve lagged behind a bit in keeping this blog up to date with my Education related musings and so here I am sharing some back thoughts – more for me – to keep all my thinking and journeying in one place and possibly to bring some useful thoughts that resonate with you, whether you are an educator or not.
Our Zimbabwe school terms run from January to December, and when I wrote this in March, which would have marked the middle of the First Term 2021 we were still doing online school.
Here are my then reflections –
We had all hoped that half term would mark the beginning of the return to real class rooms filled with noisy children and a staff room filled with chattering colleagues. No doubt we envisaged mask wearing, sanitising and social distancing, but it would do, as a step towards getting to be back to as normal as possible. Alas … we are still online for at least another two weeks and we all have our speculations as to if we will go back this term or not.
Here are some thoughts to reflect on as we wait and see how things will unfold.
How do you celebrate the end of each work day?
Yes, I did say “each work day!” It seems quite ambitious doesn’t it? Yet we give so much ourselves each day and each day should have a moment we pause, breathe and stop working and remember to be a human.
I know all of you will relate to the incessant hamster on a wheel type days we are living. Online schooling, whatever it looks like at your school, is a relentless taskmaster and often long after the dinner dishes have been stacked – the laptop is still out and the fingers are still tkk tkk tkk ing preparing, marking, researching – how can I keep students engaged, are they learning enough, will admin be pleased with my efforts? Tkk tkk tkk tkk …. going on for school admin too… what’s the best strategy to keep all stakeholders as happy as possible, can we get ministry approval to open, what of our fellow teachers in government school and a myriad of other burdensome questions. Suddenly 10 or 11 pm and time to shower and sleep and then we wake up and start again.
Do you have any rituals or daily routines that celebrate the end of your work day? Teaching of all professions has always had a problem with stopping work at a certain time … as educators we have always burned the midnight oil. Yet it times of global stress like these we have to contend even more for our sanity, our family time, the very meaning our everyday lives. All over the globe more and more people are realising that burnout and stress are not the price we need to pay for success. We need to normalise this truth as educators.
If we each, one at a time, yet together, begin to release firstly ourselves, then our colleagues and take off the badge of burnout, that we have been subtly told is an honour to wear and a measure our worth as an educator, we can start to create a new norm within our spheres of influence.
It is not an achievement to work until we are burned out. Helen Keller said, ” I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” We can bring change to at least our own lives and that is a start. Finding personal freedom is the beginning to bringing freedom to others.
I chatted to a life long friend a couple of weeks ago and asked her how school was going, and I loved her reply – she said, “I’m not letting school take over my life” and she had just come indoors from picking some vegetables from her garden for dinner. Now, that’s something simple and do-able to celebrate the end of the work day. Celebrate by stopping work and going outside … take a walk, pick some vegetables if you are green fingered enough to grow them – even a few fresh herbs grown in a pot can bring a taste of delicious and a sense of joy to your life. Have a cup or a glass or your favourite something … or simply just pause and take a deep breath and give thanks for the passing of another day. For each moment passed in contemplation and gratitude fills the soul with strength and peace and joy will come again.
I’d love to hear what ideas you are thinking of incorporating into your daily life or if you already have established “celebrate the day” rituals. Please do share in the comments below.
ThriveZim Education 