It's nearing the end of term. For teachers, that generally means excessively long hours of work. Now before you non teachers turn off with thoughts of "all those holidays" just read on a little.
I love the holidays I get. It is one of the main reasons I am a teacher. I feel sorry for parents who have to work through school holidays while I get a great opportunity to build strong bonds with my, sons. But I believe I earn them. In business, people will often need to develop a proposal or a report. It is just human nature to want that submission to be the best quality it can be. Currently I have 75 people who rely on my feedback for their reports and proposals to be the best they can make them. Consider that as a middle manager I have a reduced load so my colleagues can have up to 150 people chasing them for feedback.
This equates to a lot of hours reviewing work. I can't review while I teach, so it has to be after hours. In this last week I have been rising at 4:30 to start, and going until 11:00 at night. That's a 18 hour day. Over 5 days (assuming I do not mark or draft on the weekend) we have a 90 hour week. Bt let's be serious, I will mark and draft on the weekend. So it would be an easy 100 hour week.
So how does this challenge the new health regime?
Sleep for one. Up until now I have been listening to my body and going to sleep when it was tired. At this point I need to argue with my body. This of course makes me more tired, and without the caffeine hit I relied on to start the morning, my mind is not as sharp early on. I have made some critical mistakes because of this. I need to get used to "feeling fuzzy" for longer in the mornings.
Another impact has been exercise. I have prioritised drafting over exercise. Not good in my opinion. I was excited by the increase in my fitness, but this hurdle will have sent me back a little. Something I will need to address this next week, and have a system worked out for the assessment time of next term.
Bonus - no headaches. I was a chronic headache sufferer in recent years. They would come in most days of my life. But I feel a lot less stressed this year, and I think this has resulted in fewer headaches. So I guess the health improvements continue.
1 comment:
Shane, it is tough to keep the fitness regime when you are snowed under with work. I know Marc & I have this conversation almost weekly, as he prioritizes work over exercise regularly. Me - I figure I'm more alert if I exercise, so no matter how much work I have, I always squeeze in the exercise, but often I forgo the sleep - which is probably just as bad. Having said all that I'm having my own set back with injuries which is just as unmotivating. On the upside, there is light at the end of the tunnel for both of us and we will continue on our health journeys.
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