Do you need a break? From what?

This is another one of the prompts that now show up on WordPress. This one struck me pretty hard because I’m in that “not sleeping well” stage again, even though I’ve been walking, running, spin classing, and swimming. During spin class last week, it was 19 mile, 600-calorie ride, which isn’t to bad for me!

#Damn

Yeah, our instructor is doing classes twice a week for the month of February, which I love, because I’ve been hassling my wife about riding our bikes across Iowa this summer on Ragbrai, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. IF I can get her talked into the ride, it will be a blast. Not easy, 500 miles and 16,000+ feet of climbing won’t be THAT fun, but with 10,000 of my closest cycling friends, who knows?

#Soundshot

At the end of July, I think it will be for sure!

Now, back to the prompt at hand, what do I need a break from?

A couple of things come to mind:

  1. Negative energy: I have two Twitter accounts, one for school/political stuff and one for coaching/Hawkeye stuff. Both serve their purpose well and I try not to get the two mixed together. The problem is, both have started giving off negative energy because of the state of our state. Iowa Nice is gone, voted out the people in Iowa who cower to the CRT/litter box in schools/all our schools are failing. The single-issue voters really screwed Iowa, and now, the Republican majority is running our state into the ground. So many different bills targeting schools have been introduced and signed with glee by our governor. I say I’m pulling back, but my voice, for whatever reason, projects. I’m just a dude with a computer and some opinions. As it is, certainly something I need a break from right now.
  2. Looking at the scale: Yesterday, according to my FitBit (always a trusted source for health knowledge), I burnt about 335 calories running and about 650 in spin class. I stepped on the scale this morning and I’d GAINED weight. I know better, I do, but yet, I do these things and it feeds the negative talk in my head. Ugh! So, I’m ready to just chuck my scale and be done with it (not really, but good grief). Since August, I’m up about 15 pounds, and a lot of it is stress eating, I know that about myself, but because of my age, it doesn’t come off as easy. The scale doesn’t help me either. So yes, that I could use a break from, most certainly!
  3. Student behaviors: It’s funny, I about put this up in the negative energy because the student behaviors are part of that negative energy. I’ve mentioned a couple of times, between my sections of 6th grade and technology, I see a lot of kids on a daily basis. Add in that I just like being in hallways, interacting with them, those behaviors bring that negative energy everywhere in our building. Swearing, skipping class, hiding, and just being generally disruptive, it’s all hard to deal with on a daily basis. I go home and can’t hardly function, let alone try to grade or plan. So, could I use a break from the behaviors? Heck yes!
  4. Being told “it’s for the kids”: I never quite know what gaslighting is, regardless of where I look for a definition. It’s always a vague term in my mind, but that phrase is one that just makes my skin crawl. When I became a teacher in 1994 (damn I’m old), I never EVER heard that term, ever. Yes, teachers have always worked hard, many times for low pay, but “we knew what we were signing up for” (goodness). However, that “it’s for the kids” statement has popped up more and more since funding for schools has dropped off. When I first started at my current district, there was a budget for classroom supplies. Now, most of my supplies are leftovers from that time or purchased by me. So, could I use a break from that statement? Goodness, yes!
  5. And finally, I need a break from winter: I know, you live in Iowa, get over yourself. And while that’s true, I’ve lost that love of being cold. I could be because at my heaviest, I weighed 252 pounds (round man) and that layer of fat surrounding me kept me warm. Right now, at 217 (it took a long time to get down to this), I’m cold all the time. I have a teapot in my classroom and will drink healthy tea with honey (amazing), but the cold this year has really gotten me down. And with all the nonsense in Iowa (Mom’s for Liberty was invited to a House hearing about banning books w/educators being invited “at a later date), the discussion in our house has popped up “where would you move to get out of here?”. Well, we both love Minnesota, Colorado has come up, along with New Mexico. Only one of those gets me away from cold, but it also gets me away from many other things too!

I wish I was funny and could come up with some humorous “what do I need a break from” kinds of things, but this is pretty cathartic for me. There’s something to be said for yuck to come out on the page. While I’ve been funk, I can see that with some changes, I feel better and my attitude is better.

#ifyousayso

AND it’s February, so it’s time for the Indoor IronMan Challenge, a month to get 26.2 miles of running, 2.4 miles of swimming, and 112-mile biking done. Yesterday, it was 2 miles of running and 21 miles of biking. I was tired, but I worked out the foolishness from the day. After that, it will be March, and spring is close by.

So, what are things YOU need a break from? Please let me know in the comments! 🙂