So, here we go again …
Way too many things happened to go into specifics, but it involved my anxiety – which really got much worse last fall and I made some major decisions that, so far, are bringing me some peace and comfort. The biggest being – and it’s still a learning process – working on letting go of things that I cannot control no matter how much I’d like to be able to do so. This meant adopting the ideas of: “It is what it is” and “Let go” – two things I just have never been really good with … ever. I’ve learned that whatever is ahead – will be faced whether I want to or not when it comes to my anxiety, so – like Hagrid said, “What’s comin’ will come and we’ll meet it when it does.”
So, after teaching 5th grade for a while, I’ve opted to move to middle school to teach 6th grade Critical Thinking (novel studies) and US History. I know what you’re thinking, “Middle school? Really? Isn’t that …” So, 6th graders are basically still 5th graders when they set foot on campus and I’ve dealt with them – so, I understand who, what and how they are as human beings. Plus, I go from teach two blocks of ELA/Social Studies for 2.5 hours to 48 minute classes. My school day goes from 7.00 – 3.00 to 8.40 – 4.40! I’ll get about an extra hour of sleep every day — and so, that’s a bonus!
I have also tried to start eating as fresh as possible – which isn’t always an easy task! My morning routine is still scrambled eggs with some shredded cheese and a large sweet tea from Chick-fil-A because it’s just easy. And for the one billionth time in my life I’m going to try my best to back a lunch to take to school (since I’ll have a mini-fridge in my classroom) and back to eating before 7.00 pm everyday. I can tell a difference in everyway because I’m cutting out the vast majority of processed foods I’ve eaten in the past. What’s crazy is when you learn that even a lot of frozen vegetables are highly processed as well and I do miss the steam bagged veggies because of the convenience! One good thing is that I live near two major farmers markets and fresh veggies are always available at way better than grocery store prices!
I’ve been reading a bunch lately since school’s out – sadly, I don’t get much personal reading time during the school year. I try to make up for it over Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah and spring breaks … I’m about to start Mitch Albom’s novel the little liar as it came recommended and it falls into a genre that means a great deal to me on a personal level. My last read was my third time with Gregory Magiure’s Wicked – which will always be one of my absolute favourites. I just wanted to reread it again because the movie is due out soon and I wanted the version of the movie I have created, in my head, to be fresh!
I’m also going to be doing food adventures with my niece (hard to believe she’s grown up and married with a one-year-old) by cooking things we discover on Instagram — and boy, we have found a lot of things that we want to cook! The first will be ice cube tray sushi and we’re both super excited! So, once we start doing that — be ready for pictures, laughter and if we like what we create – recipes!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far … time for me to take a little nap and then finish my chores for the day!
My So-Called Life. 