Breaking Down for Christmas

 There are few things that truly drag out time, any sort of painful experience such as labor halts the actual slow passes of time as the minutes, hours, and breaths before teachers and students go on a break.  I am convinced that it is an actual level of Hell, and teachers are doing penance for some grievance in a past life.  I am showing movies this week while allowing my students to work on a short story assignment and even with the laid back attitude in class, I am struggling to hold my temper and counting down til break.  I honestly enjoy these kids and what I teach but maybe its that we all want to get out of here just as badly as the other does but ugh! We are all on edge.  I ordered Christmas presents for my nieces and nephews to arrive before Christmas but the rest of my family will need to wait because I honestly dont know when I will be able to get to the Post Office, and I still need the time to make several of the gifts to send to my family.  

    I have several lists for things I want to accomplish and reading I want to get done.  I plan to switch my diet back to plant-based again due to my eczema going crazy.  I know that I am stressed which is definitely a trigger but there is something I am eating that is causing it to either worsen or spread. I have also decided to try out meditation in an effort to control my stress and anxiety and hopefully help me sleep.  I am also hoping to find a few podcasts and books on audio that discuss teaching and different pedagogical methods.  I plan to complete Keeping the Wonder, which is a book that has a lot of teachers I follow on Instagram and I enjoy their methods for teaching their ELA classes, plus trying to get the kids to read and put books in their hands.  Ive signed up for DonorsChoose yet I have not been successful though I need to fix the description for my students but other than that hopefully I will get donations.  I received a bunch of wonderful teacher gifts from my students so far but I would have preferred things for my classroom.  But when I have a large balance on my Starbucks app and a couple really cute mugs in the long run I really dont mind, they thought of me, and that makes me smile.  I never wanted to be one of those extremely planned out people but I am starting see that in order to accomplish everything I need to and carve out self-care time for myself, I have to become one of those people.  

    Self-care isnt easy for me because I typically dont put myself in front of others things due to me not actually valuing myself.  I think I will type a different post about the different parts of self care that I want to implement.  I tend to find myself a little jealous over those who are actually able to schedule and complete self care.  Though I am soooo looking forward to watching season 2 of The Witcher.  Once my TBR on enjoyment side of life, I plan to read those stories since I am not really a video gamer and have no desire play the video games.  

Tonight I get to go complete the last of my Christmas lists for my team in hopes of offering a bit of merriment before the break.  All in all I made it through the day and I have one day left ...wish me luck!