After abruptly having to leave (long-term leave leading to retirement after diagnosis of Fibromyalgia), I began the long journey into wellness.  Leaving my career of 32 years so unceremoniously and not as planned, really saddened me.  However, I couldn't keep the pace that teaching demanded of me and take care of myself.

I've spent one year working on self-care, and it's paying off.  (See my blog for the journey if you want details: painfullyliving.com )  Looking back, I see that I ignored my needs pretty much all my life.  My noble reason for teaching, to help kids grow up into caring, intelligent, capable people especially focusing on saving those kids who really struggled, was my passion and also my demise.  Early to work by an hour to get things prepared, often not drinking water during the day because it was hard to ever take a break to use the restroom, staying in at lunch to help a student, trying to be a teacher, parent, counselor, medical caretaker, social worker, etc, having to problem solve constantly, pushing myself to be innovative and creative to capture my students' imaginations and passions for learning, staying late or after going 1:1, working at home conferring digitally, grading, creating new learning content, peer mentoring, continuing my own learning, working the carnival, ice cream social, organizing fundraisers for camp, analyzing our school standardized test scores, filling out evaluation self-reflections, hosting learning labs in my classroom, presenting to fellow teachers at staff meetings and district ISD, cleaning and organizing my room, setting up my classroom library, buying books to fill my library, planning parties, organizing parent conferring partners, field trip outings, and writing newsletters....the list, as you know, never stops.

I am wanting to help my beloved profession.  Teachers, I feel and have confirmed from various sources, are in danger.  Teachers need support.  Teachers need relief.  Things need to change.

I feel that the jokes on social media put out by parents going crazy trying to do "home school" during the #stayhome #staysafe #savelives order may be an in to get the general public to understand what a day-in-the-life of a teacher is like. I plan to write a series of articles on the topic.  

Your feedback will make this more impactful. I will only use the info you provide as you deem okay.  I appreciate your time and thank you for all you do.  

Sincerely,
Katie Clark
painfullyliving.com