Priorities

Good morning blog.

Last night I made myself a schedule so I could get as much done today as possible. HA! First, my schedule involved waking up by 6 like I would if today was a school day. I wanted to know if I could be self-motivated enough to get up and work the same hours that Garrett does at his job. This way when he is home I could be spending time with him knowing I had already put in a full 8 hours of work. I didn't feel good this morning and so I didn't get up when I was supposed to. Instead I slept until 8:30. And then I laid in bed till after 10 playing games on my phone.

What can I say? I am supposed to be on vacation and my usual vacation schedule clicked in. But if I am going to get serious about writing then I need to start treating it like a second job and not like a past time. This means that on days when I have the time to devote 8 hours then I need to. Otherwise it will become a dream that I never managed to achieve.

When I was a kid I always wanted to be a writer but I knew that it wasn't a terribly lucrative career when you first start out. So I decided to have more realistic dreams. Something that would help me make decent money while incorporating my passions and leaving plenty of time to work on writing on the side. This was my original reason for deciding to become a teacher.

Now this changed as I went to college. I enjoyed all of my education classes as much or more than a lot of my English courses. I especially loved the two opportunities I had to be in a classroom with students. And so I kind of forgot about writing. I was happy teaching, I was very busy working and going to school, and I needed time to breathe. After I graduated from college I spent all my time working and trying to find a teaching job. I literally worked all day, went to bed, and then got up to do it again. Then when I found a teaching job I learned what a time suck it can be.

Teachers arrive at work by 7 sometimes earlier if they have a meeting before school starts. The students arrive by 7:30 at most schools which means teachers are with students from then until 2:30 in most schools, some go late, some are a little earlier. Then after kids leave teachers plan for the next day, make copies, have meetings, and grade. Most stay at least an hour after kids leave many stay longer, especially if they are also running an after-school activity. Then most teachers spend at least some time on their weekends grading and/or planning. Over the summer teacher are supposed to have lots of time off but many don't. They work second jobs, they plan for the upcoming year, they attend workshops, and they put their classrooms back together. In my case I spent last summer getting married, finding a new place to live, and moving. The summer before that I work 3-4 days every week on units for the upcoming year and I went to several workshops. The crazy thing about teaching is that there is always something that you can do. And the more time you spend on it the better your students (usually, not always) do. So it is easy to throw yourself into your work and ignore other parts of your life. You have to prioritize.

Any way my point is that I have prioritized teaching over most other things for a long time and I need to stop. For one, it is not good for my health to spend so much time on my job and so little time on other things. Two, so far I have done a very good job not prioritizing my job over Garrett or my family and as time goes on I need to make sure I keep putting the most important people in my life first. Three, I have other goals, ambitions, and dreams that deserve my attention too.