This is a post I wrote last week, while sitting in my empty classroom at the end of a long day. Hopefully, you can identify with some of this. If nothing else, how cute is that picture of that cat? Am I right?
It's been a long day.
At 6:45 a.m., I tumbled into my car to start out the 45 minute commute to work. It wasn't great. It never is.
Since approximately 8:00 a.m., I've been corralling middle and high school students, cajoling them to be quiet and pay attention, and, hopefully, teaching them a thing or two in the process.
Amongst all that chaos, I have a million other things on my mind. The end of May feels like it's just around the corner. That means the end of my employment as a teacher rapidly approaches. That means I need to find another source of steady and serious income.
It also means I'm still in the in-between stage. I'm not gone, but I'm not really here either. I have no "next year" to look forward to. I'm not building momentum. I'm winding down.
I feel tired. I feel angry. I feel bitterness creeping in. I feel overwhelmed.
And as my students from my last class retreat in glee out of the door of my classroom, I know it isn't over for me.
Next on deck? Grocery shopping at Walmart. It's the last thing I want to do, but it must be done.
But, after that...surely then I can relax, right?
Not so. After grocery shopping, I've got praise and worship practice.
And then, that must be it. That must be when I'll be able to kick back and truly unwind, correct?
Again, I'm afraid not. After worship practice, I'll have to stay up late to watch a mixed martial arts (MMA) TV program so that I can log the news and information for an article for the MMA website for which I work part-time.
By the time that's all said and done, it will be 12:30 a.m., at the earliest. I'll likely be in bed no earlier than 1:00 a.m., only to awake to the cacophony of my cell phone alarm clock invading my eardrums at 5:30 a.m., signaling the beginning of another race to another finish line that never comes.
Those are my days. All of them.
Monday.
Tuesday.
Wednesday.
Thursday.
Friday.
Saturday.
Sunday.
I rarely rest. I rarely just sit and do nothing. Sometimes, I feel like I rarely breathe.
I need to leave to get the shopping done and over with, but for now, I will sit. I will sit in this quiet and unoccupied classroom and enjoy the silence.
We need that. I...need that. The quiet recharges my batteries. It readies me for the next leg of the race. I'll get up and go in a minute. But right now, I cling to the quiet.
On a sidenote, as exhausting as this week has been and how draining my life can be, all of you fill me right back up again. I love my readers. I love my fellow bloggers and Twitter friends who helped promote the release of my new e-book, An Idiot's Guide to the Galaxy. You guys rock, and I appreciate you.
How do YOU recharge your batteries?
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