work-life balance: is it really a thing?
soy la misma newsletter
[a] break (noun): a pause in work or during an activity or event (Dictionary.com).
a pause — that’s exactly the kind of button I wish there was in this so-called place we call ‘life’. Have you ever watched Click with Adam Sandler? He could control everything through a remote! He’d walk around hitting rewind, stop, forward, and pause whenever he found convenient. Sometimes in my magical thoughts I do think how cool that would be. Perhaps the pause/break would be longer than the one an average American takes, which according to an article from the New York Post is 17 minutes, four times a day — if one is lucky enough to take them.
It seems I’m always drowning in a to-do list. Grad school has been kicking my butt lately! The process to becoming a licensed teacher is an exhausting one, and one that I now admire many of my teacher friends for taking on. Learning about the edTPA and having to do it next semester is going to make me feel like I’m living in absolute hell. I’m not only writing lesson plans for grad school, but I’m prepping for every day teaching. Now that I have more confidence in my role as an educator, I emphasize certain things in the classroom such as connecting the lesson to my students’ lives and creating engaging tools for them to use while they learn. It is very daunting, yet exciting and intriguing to me. I’ve also been dealing with quite a bit of behavior issues then I have had in the past with some students, so I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster of what kind of vibes I’m trying to throw out to them when I want to keep them accountable but also continuing to build trust. This school year has also been an interesting one in that staff has become rather “intense”. I try not to interact with that “intensity”, but it can be tough to manage the school system all alone — more on this perhaps in the next newsletter. Thankfully, I’ve found great support through a teacher affinity group that is state-wide, and I’m part of an educator fellowship on emphasizing critical pedagogies in practice and in the classroom. This is also state-wide and it’s a program through the University of Minnesota. I feel very blessed to have these folks as support, but I do wish I could find this locally. Regardless, all of this is continued work in progress, and I can’t wait until it’s over, and I can manage some of these moments better.
My partner and I went shopping for Christmas decor to jolly up our house. I decided that this weekend I wouldn’t be on my laptop doing homework, and I can say, I did very well! I helped him with the kitchen remodeling project, and we even put up our Christmas tree! These little joyful acts are my break. Each day that I become older, I start to aspire to do less and be okay with less. Now, I am not talking about becoming a couch potato — but, hey, if that’s what you want, then go for it — but rather more like stop taking the time to obsess over something a student/teacher said or signing-up for another poetry workshop when I’ve already signed up for one on the same week. As a virgo, this girl still has ambitions and it seems like my to-do list will never disappear but if I can reduce it for the sake of not giving myself another panic attack then that’s what I need to do. For two years now, I’ve been telling myself, “Choose joy. Do only things that bring you joy.” And it is a lot more tough then anything, especially if there are bills to be paid and if there are dreams to be explored.
How are you keeping yourself balanced? What are the things you are doing for joy and what are the things you’re doing that are not bringing you joy? Is it possible to let go of those un-joyful acts and JUST LIVE?
what I’m reading
two poem books (Purgatory Desk anthology and UnAmerican Dreams by Juania Sueños) from Infrarrealista Review
We Heard It When We Were Young by Chuy Renteria, which I’m hoping to dive into for an upcoming newletter installment
what I’m watching
Roller Jam + Somebody Somewhere on Max
Abbott Elementary (new season) on Hulu
How to Die Alone on Hulu — I started watching this show with my mother, and I couldn’t watch more than 1-2 episodes at a time. It’s the type of show where I want to sit on the events the main character is experiencing because her actions overwhelm me! Nathasha Rothwell killsss this role.
what I’m listening to
my ‘liked songs’ playlist on Spotify has been on repeat for the last month as listening to similar music tracks tends to ease my nerves, although I did expand this past week with music from Gigi Perez!
the yapping of my first block students who I always say to them, “I love how energetic we are this morning. And I love how much joy you’re releasing, but I must move us along now.” <33