THE LONGEST MONTH

July 2, 2006

This has been the longest month of my life. Despite the fact that my students were great and I genuinely enjoyed my first experience teaching, the month of June felt as if it would never end. Perhaps it felt like the longest month because I was not able to sleep as many hours as I am accustomed to sleeping. There were several nights when I only slept 2-4 hours. While some people can handle this type of sleep deprivation for many consecutive nights, I cannot. I become grouchy. I am not mentally sharp. I just cannot perform on a high level.

The fact that one month of summer school has left me this drained concerns me. The school year is 9 months, and I will be teaching full days as compared to half days. Plus, I will still have graduate school to deal with on the weekends. I'm going to have to figure something out between now and August.

First, I definitely think I need to make time to work out. If I work out, my energy level is much higher. Unfortunately, during summer school, I only went to the gym once a week. I need to get that up to two or three times a week at least.

Also, I need to budget my time better during the week. There were several nights during June that I didn't get a full night's rest because I talked on the telephone several hours. While talking to my friends and family is an outlet necessary for me to stay balanced, I can't afford to spend so much time on the telephone.

I will also need to stick to my general working rule, which is that I must keep mid-week activities to a minimum. People laugh at me when I tell them that I can't go out in the middle of the week, but I know my body and how it works. If I stay out late and have to work the following day, I will be much like a zombie the next day.

I guess I'll blog in December about whether this Fall feels like the longest couple of months of my life.