Day 1 Part B. What do Teachers Sacrifice?

This isn't  whiny "teachers are so under-appreciated" post.

Any good life-overhall should start with goals. And goals start with an honest evaluation of one's existence.

And my existence, currently, revolves around education.

I love teaching - its something I have wanted to do nearly all of my life. Being around children all day, seeing them grasp a concept, or be creative, or hear them share their stories... kids have cured my migraines, have turned a bad day into one of the best, and given me hope when I thought there was none left.

But, after 9 years of teaching nearly 13 hours a day (not counting the work I do after hours), I realized something. Overworking does not make me a better teacher. Honestly, it makes me a forgetful, scatterbrained, disorganized teacher.

I don't want this journey to be yet another thing I add to my plate. It isn't another item on my already long to-do list. So, if this is the case, I should then begin with goals. What changes can I personally make (to the things that I can control) that would make me a more effective teacher?

Here is my list (so far):
1. A brighter, thicker line between home time and work
2. Reinvest in my health
3. Reinvest in my reflective/spiritual life

I figure that in order to reach goals number #2 and #3, I logically must master goal #1 (and this is the point where you laugh at the debate coach in me).

Tomorrow, then, my task is to create a plan. How can I do my job at my level of satisfaction, and still have a section of my day that is devoted to my life outside of school.

Game on.

Day 1. You know the joke about "da Nile"..

Today is the day I finally admit it.

Hi, my name is Liz, I am 30, and I am a workaholic.

It's not that I ever denied it, per se... I mean, every 15 year old has 2 jobs and works 9 hour days, right?!?!?

Except that I had a revelation about a year ago. I was 30 years old, and had lived in the same town my entire life. A town that I spent most of my youth despising and wanting to get as far away from as possible. Of course, life perspectives as an adult are slightly different, and so a move to Siberia was no longer as appealing as only being a 10 minute drive away from my parents...

... until 30 came around, and I realized just how much I had yet to live. I had a great life, to be sure. Perhaps I am selfish, but I want a wonderful life.

So, I packed up my life, and in a 3 day long road trip with my parents, younger sister, and 2 geriatric cats, I moved from suburban Chicago to Phoenix.

I certainly wan't expecting my life to change overnight. In so many ways it has, but in just as many ways it hasn't.

There are many things about my life I can't change, but there are some that I have always wanted to...

So, this is my attempt to use my change in circumstance to change my circumstances. I'm a teacher, so there will be a lot about teaching here, but also about teachers in their lives outside of school.

Officially, I am leaving Egypt, the land of "da Nile..." and entering the world of Workaholic Rehabilitation.