Exhaustion
Yay.
Wahoo.
School is ending.
And you’re probably exhausted.
From the sudden hard pivot to online teaching,
which you didn’t know how to do and which your administrators (and the parents of your students) didn’t know how to do
AND which you didn’t want to do.
From using zoom every day.
From COVID and the fear and uncertainty and actual loss that have come with it.
From police brutality and unrelenting racism.
From the hatred and chaos that come from our White House.
From the natural frenzy of ending school years — wrapping things up, grading, trying to figure out how to celebrate graduation.
From managing your own family’s needs.
From not knowing what’s going to happen in the fall and worrying about it.
A plea: Take some time for yourself once school has ended. Get back in your body. Let yourself feel even if what you’re feeling isn’t pleasant. Don’t judge it. Just watch it.
Taking time with yourself and letting your emotions live can, weirdly, end up being rejuvenating. I took a break last week and felt deeply, inescapably sad the entire time. And I worried that I wasn’t getting what I needed — shouldn’t I be making myself happy? How do I get enough rest? Why am I feeling so listless? What’s wrong with me? If I don’t shape up this week, how can I get back to work? If I can’t care for myself, how can I sustain caring for others?
I discovered that
letting myself be for a week
really made a difference. I’m still sad (and angry and confused and anxious), but I’m buoyed.
So I recommend spending time with yourself exactly as you are, now that your obligations to other people have diminished for a moment. Notice what’s weighing you down. Honor it. Don’t fight it. And let your
inner buoy
bob to the surface.
If you can’t find your inner buoy, though — if you are depressed, suicidal, hopeless, self-harming — please get help. Please. Get. Help. Try here. And, if that doesn’t work, here.
Maybe this mantra?: Welcome just being for a change.