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Teacher Burnout or Compassion Satisfaction
What innate factors and characteristics make for long lasting and sustainable empathy? My brother is an emergency room and flight nurse trained in transporting patients. These patients are of course in the worst stages of trauma and often in life-sustaining mode when he meets them. Sometimes he’s successful in the transport. The measure is not always qualitative. This job requires much patience and on-your-feet thinking under very serious stress and time constraints. Some patients don’t survive. That is something he must deal with on a regular basis. It takes a special kind of person to withstand this kind of pressure and fatigue. I am not trying to compare my job…
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On Becoming a Writer
Earlier (and often), I wrote about dissatisfaction and frustration with self, actions, and fear. It goes against the I’m-enough mantra. It’s part of why I started a blog. This time of year, it weighs heavy on my (and others’) mind due to all the talk about 2018 accomplishments and 2019 goals. Today I saw a post that was entirely related to positive reflections with and about the past. Being the ever-optimist, this post spoke to me much more than the others. As I re-read last month’s writing, even in my desire to make a change for the better in my life, I noticed those pieces were negative. Like something is…
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A Best Self… of Some Sort
I often say, to myself of course, but now to you, that I am trying to be my “Best Self.” That is my true and worthy goal, and a desire that is a blessing and a curse. I, like many my age, are trying to reach some level of better that probably borders on perfection—probably impossible to attain (probably). Best Self? What is that anyway? I am a true believer that perfectionism is a form of fear. I try to avoid it. All of these terms, I believe, are more likely related to empowerment. The void between self-loathing and empowerment is vast–I’d need a ship to make passage. I think…
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On My Dream of Simplicity
How to make a life, not just a living. I had been longing to visit the Dream Bank in Madison for the past couple years–since I knew it existed. Everything I had heard about the mission and goals to inspire the community made it very appealing to me. So after finding this freedom (from work), I decided to monitor and set goals for each day and week as to input and output. This transformed by time, whether I was spending time with my mother or pursuing other learning. Remember, this is the time for me to acquire that which is not possible while working. So last month Bruce and I…
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Financial Wellness Really is a Thing
And It Is a Workout! New year brings a plethora of approaches to make your life better. I’ve heard this term: Financial Wellness. I am not a stranger to this term. As a School Wellness Liaison, this category came up in the content to support teacher wellness. When I first heard it, I found it a bit odd. It was the thing not like the others that I was passing along to teachers to support their wellness: workouts, sleep, meditation, nutrition. All the normal wellness approaches that I know much about sat well in my self-improvement expanding knowledge. But finances!? There is something that I don’t have a lot of…
