“I’m doing everything halfway.” Does anyone else feel this way? I said this last week when I realized I couldn’t complete all my tasks, meetings, teachings, responses to emails, etc… I feel like everything is getting half of my effort, half of what I can do, half of what people need.
“You can only do what you can do and you are doing your best.” That is what I would say to a friend or work colleague if they came to me with the above sentiment.
But for myself, this is not acceptable, I would never say this to myself. Instead, I expect myself to do more, to move mountains, to do the impossible.
Have you found yourself stuck in this negative thought pattern before?
Maybe you said, “I’m surviving, not teaching.” Or “It’s my students who are losing out.” Or “I should be better than this.”
If these are thoughts you have had, you are not alone. Teaching is hard but maybe, just maybe it can be a “good hard” when you have the tools and strategies to prevent these negative loop patterns.
What do you normally do when you hear these thoughts in your head? Do you agree with them? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep? Do you feel helpless?
You don’t have to!
Instead practice the following four easy steps:
- Awareness: The power of awareness is HUGE. You must know you are having this negative thought to change it otherwise, you will just continue to have it. Notice that you are having this thought. (P.S. Have you noticed this is the first step for most of my frameworks?)
- Space: Create space between the thought and your emotions. You can insert “I am feeling…” in front of the negative thought so “I am feeling like I am doing everything half way.” Repeat it a few times. If the negative thought continues, add a breathing exercise to break the loop.
- Present: Become present to where you are right now. Use your five senses to come back to the present. Notice what is in front of you. Is there a kid that needs your support and guidance?
- Self-Compassion: offer some self-compassion to yourself. Say to yourself what you would say to a friend in a similar situation. Be kind to yourself. Maybe you say, “You are doing the best you can and you are doing fantastic!”
It can be hard to jump into a new practice. You may have good intentions to use these four easy steps but you forget.
This is normal - be kind to yourself!
You are essentially trying to rewire your brain to respond differently to a situation - to build a new habit and respond in this new way. It’s hard to change habits and YOU can do it!
So, instead of saying, “This is not why I became a teacher.” Become present to the moment, create space, become present and have self compassion. Then you can say, “This is why I became a teacher, to make this difference for this student. To show this student they are heard and be seen by me with my eyes wide open.”
Thanks for listening!
