A Month of Quiet

School started and I threw myself into it. I had a pair of blog posts drafted to finish the teacher workweek, but never finished them.

It's been busy, but not so busy I haven't had margin.....so long as I cut out the blog.

So I cut out the blog. 

The blog is a creative outlet for me. Right now, the majority of my creativity has gone into adapting to the new school year. 

I had more time to work on the blog when I worked at LMA. I had a shorter commute, an earlier start with less dead time in the morning, and the school day ended earlier. As long as it wasn't wrestling season, I had a lot more time on my hands. Sometimes there were even slow days due to truancy and/or suspensions and I even had spare time at work! That gave me more time and energy availability to write.

And when the storms did come at LMA, the price paid was often paid in emotional toil rather than minutes or hours. The blog acted as a reflective tool for me where I could set my minds on things other than the stresses at work.

My current position takes more time. From the commute, to the grading, to the answering emails, to the hours in the building it all adds up to more. It's not necessarily harder. I haven't had the "Oh, *(#!$" emergency moments, but I spend a lot of time thinking about my students by nature and now I have so many more.

Don't think that I'm going crazy or being worked to the bone, though. I've had time at home to rest or work on other projects. There is margin! I typically come home from work and move slowly for the first hour getting a snack, talking to my family, and playing on my phone before doing any more work. Instead of blogging, my spare 'fun' energy was put into other projects like exercise (and then Civ VI and books when I had to stop that!). 

As I write this, it's Wednesday, 9/22. It's also a day off from school! There are anticipated heavy storms and ACPS closed schools. I suspect the bus driver shortage, extended walk zones, and the spread of COVID played heavily into the decision....and I'm A-OK with it. 

No, I'm ecstatic! Wednesdays are my roughest days so far with lunch duty and my A-Day classes and I get to sit at home! So I get a day off midweek and I decided to catch up on other things today including the blog. 

Hopefully, I'll have a slew of things posted and other drafts cued up behind the scenes before going to bed tonight. I plan on enjoying the day, so I'm not going to push myself too hard!