monday morning mindfulness: the blessing of snow days
I am so thankful for this online community & I want to be a little more intentional about chatting about things, encouraging one another, & reminding each other that many of us are probably feeling similar things, or have at different times. These monday morning mindfulness posts are going to be little glimpses into my heart & life: the good, the bad & the ugly. So much can be learned from different experiences, especially when you are practicing mindfulness.
With all of that being said, today’s topic is: the blessing of snow days.
Those of you who are educators will understand this post to a T.
I’ve seen so many videos on tiktok & instagram of non-educators making comments about educators’ time off: Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, & summers off. These comments are then followed by a very passionate & defensive educator explaining that yes, these breaks are lovely (& well deserved), but the process for taking a day off when school is IN session, is not as easy as it sounds. I’m not a teacher so I don’t know the struggle of having to lesson plan, but as a school counselor, I do know the struggle of having emails constantly flowing in, having to reschedule meetings & student pulls, etc. So even if you took a sick day & are at home & miserable, or you took a personal day, really there is still a part of you that continues to work. Even if it’s just thoughts running through your brain (I know I’m guilty of schedule-sending emails or creating a reminder to-do list for myself for the next day).
Thanks to a little bit of burnout + therapy, I’ve gotten SO much better at not taking work home: worrying about students. Because of my new mindset, I’m able to enjoy my snow days — reading books, doing laundry, making soup, cuddling with Piper, taking a nap, whatever else I want to do! — & not be constantly thinking about what my students are doing at home (a place some of them don’t want to be).
The real blessing of all of the breaks & SNOW DAYS is that (for the most part) everyone stops working. The emails slow down, meetings can be rescheduled at a later date, students aren’t at school so 1:1 sessions will pick up when you come back. The blessing of a snow day is that I am somewhat forced to just BE for a minute. & I have learned to see the blessing in that.
As an educator, I’ve learned the hard way how important it is to take care of myself. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the common phrase, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” & it’s so true!
