This past Saturday I hosted a Master Class Zoom meeting featuring a couple of my good friends. The group was small which allowed some nice dialogue, and the topic jumped to self care for teachers. This is where one of my former practicum students, who is now a colleague quoted me from another professional development we had had before school started – set boundaries for yourself because the work will still be there tomorrow.

Participating in the dialogue were my boss and my husband, both of whom hesitated, looked at me (which is difficult through zoom) and began laughing. Yeah, ok, so I have problems setting boundaries. So sure, yesterday I began working while eating breakfast at 8:00, worked through lunch, had a zoom meeting, drove to the board office to help with a tenure class, drove home to a lovely dinner prepared by my husband and proceeded to work until 10:00 p.m. This is not unusual for me. Setting those boundaries sounds great in theory and for other people when you’re teaching a session on self help, but so very difficult to do.

I believe there a lot of professionals out there who keep the same kind of hours. During a time when I should be preparing for retirement (which some days is sounding better and better), I’m busier than ever and wishing I had more time to do the other things I want to do. I can’t finish the day until I FEEL finished, everything is ready to go the next day, I’ve concluded the projects I set out to finish that day or have a plan for them tomorrow, and I’ve answered every email I’ve received. This becomes a problem when someone sends me an email at 10:00 p.m. because I feel like I have to answer it to finish the day. This is obviously NOT the right kind of boundary I’m telling others to set for themselves.

This is the same advice I’m giving to my wonderful, experienced Type A teachers who are trying to do what they’ve always done, only now in an impossible situation. Now is NOT the time to try to do seven activities for your class focusing on two essential learning outcomes because you have to get through what you expect your kids to know and be able to do during a 5 day rotation. Focus on what is most important, go deep with it, and make it something they’ll use for years to come. Set boundaries for yourself and your students so that you both won’t be overwhelmed. See how good I am at advising others to take care of themselves? Kind of one of those “do as I say, not do as I do”, right?

Imagine if I used my own advice for my own life? Imagine if I set those boundaries, did what I could do to the best of my ability and then shut down. I’m sure at first it would drive me crazy, but surely I would get used to it. What if I found what was really important in life, dug deeply into it and made it something special for years to come. In the future, nobody is going to remember the spreadsheets or contracts I created or the emails I answered, right? Except for the people who expected me to create those spreadsheets and contracts and responses to their emails. It’s hard to contemplate the future with boundaries when there are so many demands on me today.

So what to do? I’ve been thinking about my former student and how he is seriously considering my advice and apparently I’m not. Will people take me seriously if I’m not following my own advice? Maybe it’s time to put the money where my mouth is. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe next week….