You Were Made For This
I am REAL big on doing everything in my power to avoid that “burnout” phase of life. If I’m being honest, I fear it. It’s actually one of my most prayed prayer. I always hear, “I was just feeling teacher burnout.” “I was tired of my marriage.” “I was tired of my job.” “I was tired of blah blah blah.” I truly from the pit of my soul fear being “tired.”
Marriage. I find myself doing little things to avoid that feeling in our marriage. Coach and I have a HUGE focus on communication and I may or may not drive him crazy with my up front honesty. “Hey, that really bothered me!” is said a lot by me. When I need a break, I am one to say it. I don’t ever want to feel bitter or mad because of his schedule. To me, communication and talking about EVERYTHING keeps me from feeling tired in the most important relationship I have.
Teaching. I feel burnout in our jobs comes from stress. I am HUGE on filling my bucket as a PERSON and not giving my 110% to my job and then leaving 0% for my people in my house. I give the best I can in my classroom, but Cart, Calla, and Coach will always get my 110%. This means working hard to be as prepared as possible, and not stressing the small stuff. If it can’t be done, then it can’t be done. I am a human. It took 13 years, but I have mastered this skill quite well. (Ask my work friends. I am actually rather chill this year. To the point of people are questioning me.) You usually won’t find me working on anything school related when I am at home. I also removed work email and apps from my phone. If you know, you know. GAME CHANGER, y’all. I also had to learn to say, “No.” Just this year I had to say, “I’m sorry. I just can’t add that to my plate right now.” It hurt so much… but man I feel better! I’m just a better person and WANT to go to my classroom each day because I found that balance.
Motherhood. Whew. This circles back to me having open communication with Coach. One day last year I said, “Brandon, I am jealous of your 15 minute ride home in silence every day. Help me.” So he did. He fixed it all. We also fully believe in weekends at grandparent’s house. That can be another post for another day. Motherhood is hard. I can pour from an empty cup more that I want to admit, but we DO have to take moments for ourselves, and I believe in that Mama Moment.
All of this to say, no matter what I do to be my best at avoiding the “I am tired. I feel the burnout feeling approaching…..” It still hits me in the face from time to time. It hit me this week. I was THRIVING. Then… I was surviving. I had a meltdown over Cart’s pjs. I knew it was time to step back, pray about it, and reevaluate.
Then I pulled this shirt out for Teacher Tee Thursday. I bought it back in May.Honestly, I completely forgot I had it. It was pushed back in my closet, then found its way to the surface. (Which, sadly… says a lot.) Just what I needed; a reminder.
God made me for this. God made ME to be Calla and Cart’s mama. God made ME to be Coach Cain’s wife. God made ME to be a teacher to the Cain Crew. God made ME for THIS LIFE.
It changed my whole perspective. No matter what I do to avoid it, the exhaustion just hits us. The burnout is there. So when it does, now what.
So when you are feeling that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach, the burnout is close…. remember: You were made for this.
God made us to work hard and use our gifts for HIM. He tells us to go out and do hard work. Give Him the glory. We are told that work here on Earth is HARD. It isn’t easy because only in Heaven will we find that perfection. However, we can find comfort in knowing:
We were made for this.
