We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s almost spring!
Yep!
We are pretty darn close to the end of the school year and, of course… summer break!!!
Now, before we get started, we want to provide a fair warning that this post will take a slightly different direction than many of our last posts as we spend some time talking about the summer and your goals and plans for those blissful couple of months when you take off your lanyard, close your computer, and tuck your hair into a hat (with no intention of taking it off until August).
Teachers in the Summer
Weirdly, considering there are so many of us, many teachers have similar tendencies.
Let’s take the ‘summer teacher’ for example.
Most teachers often find themselves doing one of 3 things over the summer.
They are either…
- Actively avoid all things school while trying to do everything before the dreaded ‘back-to-school’ sales startup.
Or…
- They are using their summer to prepare for their greatest school year yet.
Or…
- They are so planned out with vacations and kids’ activities that they barely register that summer is even happening.
Which boat do you fall into?
But, this summer, we may need to try to step outside our typical go-to summer scenarios.
Last year, we wrote a post all about giving yourself a true break over the summer, and we think that this year, you need to do the same, but we also want you to do things this summer that help you reconnect with other parts of yourself that often take a backseat to teaching.
In fact, today, we’re here to encourage you to do summer differently this year.
This summer, we want you to spend more time exploring your hobbies!
Exploring Your Hobbies
Throughout the school year, we often forget about ourselves, and what we like to do often gets shoved aside by what we HAVE to do.
We spend so much time giving to our students and families and thinking about school that we fail to do things that are just fun.
Whether that is reading, painting, taking a new class, or maybe even dusting off our old tools and building something having a hobby that’s unrelated to teaching or school can help us feel a little more like ourselves.
This summer, we want to challenge you to either try a new hobby or pick back up an old one.
Specifically, plan time to ‘play’ with that hobby in a way where you put no expectations on it.
It doesn’t have to be great or perfect. You don’t have to spend hours on this new thing, and you don’t even have to give it your full attention. Your effort level and what you decide to do just needs to be something you find fun, fulfilling, or free.
Find fun this summer by doing something that you love but haven’t given yourself much time to explore or play with lately.
We think you’ll find that exploring a new hobby or revisiting an old one may be exactly what you need to feel like you again, and if you really like this hobby, we want you to plan time to continue diving into it throughout the school year.
Put it on your calendar!
We all know that if you don’t put it on your calendar, it won’t happen!
We all need a thing, and this summer, we hope you find something that lights you up!
Happy hobbying, Friends.
