Summer Rest?

This week I discovered a painful realization: my “summer” is almost over. Summer, for me, is when staff development slows down, which is usually March through May. During this time I have a chance to take a small break and regain some semblance of balance between work and play. After which time, June hits, and I dive back into a continuous stream of presentations, right up to the start of school in August.

This year, I realized I didn’t take a break at all. Although staff development did slow down a bit, my workload did not. Since Spring Break, I have spent evenings and weekends finishing a songbook, scheduling summer and fall staff development, and keeping up with all the paperwork of the business. I didn’t see how busy I stayed until this week when technology failed me.

My website was completely overhauled and scheduled to go live this past Monday. I was told I would have a couple of hours of interrupted service during a propagation period; however, a couple of hours turned into five days. This glitch also interrupted my email correspondence. So with little-to-no technology, I was forced to step away from the non-stop routine I had inadvertently established over the past few months.

Did I mention, the glitch has been fixed? Yep. Check out my new fancy-shmancy website. Now things can go back to normal. Or not. You see, this week reminded me I need to do a much better job of setting boundaries when it comes to my work. Maybe you can relate. When we don’t step away from our work, we lose perspective. Teachers, summer is about to hit. My hope for you is that you will take the time to rest and play. Maybe this summer break will reaffirm to you, as it did to me, why it is we work in the first place.