Inspired by Thiago’s post, I thought I’d write a bit of a ramble/ life update post. Thiago is in a good place. I am not or maybe I am. You see, I used to post one or two blog posts a week about teaching, activities, lesson plans etc. but at the moment I am not feeling it. At all. I am going to tell you why and what I am doing about it.
Work
I did my summer course in the UK and came back to work. I had no holidays. Nada. Now, I am working again. In Greece. I teach online every morning from 9:15-3 and I also have a few afternoon classes with Greek kids. Nothing major.
I decided to make a small change and stop working all day and do other things that make me happy. Have a personal life and live a little. See if it works for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I have fun when I teach, I just don’t want to teach all the time. I used to though. 24/7. Work, work, work and then blog about it.
Now I feel like I have workaholic withdrawal syndrome….
What am I doing?
I am starting photography lessons next week. I have already signed up for classes. I am also going to continue my painting lessons.
I work out a bit more, but I do wanna join a gym, just feeling a bit lazy.
I read books a bit. Watch more TV. I just have more time for me.
I still blog, but it’s more about girlie stuff. Makeup , shopping , life and so on.
I think I am suffering from teacher burnout and trying to find ways to deal with it. I am tired of working all day and making ends meet. I am tired of dealing with parents. Disciplining kids who are not interested. I don’t feel inspired by teaching materials and I am too lazy to be creative. I am just not feeling it and I am not going to force it either. I have been teaching full time (maybe even over full time) for 20 years now and I know that an unhappy overworked teacher is a bad teacher.
Maybe I am having a midlife crisis and in a few months I will be back on track but at the mo, jo has lost her mojo BUT I am happy. Content.
So, yeah. That’s my mindset and I am OK with it.
My Elt Rambles 
It comes and goes. I definitely feel the kids thing. Am I a stick in the mud, I often wonder. Maybe, or maybe kids with a million clubs and after school things just don’t want to be in class so teaching them is such a drain.
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Thank you for being open about your burnout experience. I don’t think enough teachers recognize some of the signs you describe.
Anna
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Thanks for sharing that with us, dear Joanna. When I taught kids here they were really privileged and had so many attitude problems. It was draining.
I think it’s a wonderful idea to start photography lessons or anything that gives you pleasure. I started working when I was very young and when I reduced the workload I felt guilty, not knowing what to do with that time. My fellow teachers were working all day and I almost felt ashamed of making money and not working like crazy.
As much as I love teaching, it is not my life. Teaching is a very important, a wonderful part of my life, but a part of it.
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Enjoy your ‘you’ time. That teaching mojo’ll come back eventually. It’s like studying, too. Sometimes our students are 110% invested, sometimes not. Go with the flow and you’ll know that when it comes back you’ll have so much more energy for it!
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Teaching is a strange job in many ways. It’s referred to as a “performing job”, yet we tend to put our students and clients first to the extent of self-negation. Teaching, especially language teaching, is essentially social, yet it can be very lonely for us. I’m writing about our teaching identities at the moment. It’s full of contradictions and you are not alone!!
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Sounds like a good plan – the photography classes and focusing more on you generally. Makeup blogging too. As Thiago says, teaching is just a part of life. Take care!
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