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I’m Struggling With Work-Life Balance Right Now
I was at work from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Thursday. When I got home, I was tired, and could barely stand. I didn’t go on the daily run I’m used to, and I watched a little TV, sat on the couch, ate a bit more dinner, and then went to bed.
As a teacher, my day starts at 8:45 a.m., but I try to get in a little early to print out any materials I need for class, including worksheets or more. The day ends at 3:35 p.m., but in my effort to leave work at work and not bring it home, I usually stay until at least 4 p.m. Teaching is the kind of job where not everything is going to go perfectly, and tends to be very emotionally draining, so work-life balance is important.
However, that Thursday was the longest day of a long week. We had parent-teacher conferences as well as multiple meetings with multiple teams. I had meetings after school almost every day. I didn’t run as much as I wanted to, nor did I write as much as I wanted to. I didn’t see my fianceé much either — for the first week in a while, everything fell by the wayside while I attended to my obligations at work.
I really try not to make work and my job as a special ed teacher take up this much space in my life. It’s not healthy and it can lead me into dark places when…