Every day I am challenged to cope with my responsibilities, achieve my goals, and earn enough to provide for my family. It is also fundamental to determine how to present myself so that I can progress up the career ladder and, as a result, earn better wages. In addition, I have to work with other people with an ever-changing set of personalities, some of whom are my colleagues, teachers, and other students (Ruslani 112). In addition, I try to use a full drive to and from work reading books and listening to the news. When I come home, I also set aside time to review student assignments and prepare for lessons.
I appreciate my position as a teacher, so I am happy to do it, but it is very hard for me to balance work and my personal life in the first years. Therefore, to avoid being depressed, I decided to try to assess the real world as it is, not as I would like it to be. This is why I talked to my family and realized that it was hard for me to adjust to a team, and my work required much communication. Thus, they supported me and offered to do yoga or meditation together. This kind of pastime allows me to restore balance within myself and connect with my family. At the same time, I allocate time for family matters; for example, after 6 pm I do not deal with work-related issues (Blackburn 14). Moreover, I maintain relationships with fellow teachers, so we can exchange teaching tips and chat about different topics. This helps me stay out of a chore and be in a good mood.
It should be mentioned that there are other tips for young teachers to maintain a work-life balance. For example, it is investing in professional development so that, over time, preparing classes take less time. An interesting piece of advice is to celebrate one’s victories at work; it increases enthusiasm, which affects work and personal life (Agha 164). Finally, it is valuable to take a break from work when a feeling of burnout appears. Then one needs to take a vacation and spend more time with family and friends or find a new hobby, which will restore inner balance.
It is relevant to note that my attitude towards working at night and on weekends is rather negative. Constant and stressful work with many people is hard, and if a teacher ignores weekends, they can get burned out (Whelan 30). At the early beginning of my profession, I used to sit up late into the night preparing lessons and searching for the very idea that would be interesting to my students. I also used to make up materials, check homework and projects, and the work seemed endless. However, now I have an essential rule, which is first of all to set boundaries. Every person needs to rest, relax, and be distracted from thinking about the subject.
That is why I have made a clear distinction between my working and non-working hours and do not answer phone calls or questions from parents or students at weekends or nights. A rule not to sit up struggling on materials and resolve all issues by 6 p.m., is also helpful (McCarthy 10). At first, this was difficult for me, but I agreed that I am not available on weekends, and there is always an opportunity to deal with questions during the workday. It is crucial to say that this rule has not made my students’ results worse; on the contrary, everyone is happier. Rest helps me go back to practice with enthusiasm and new strength and feel better and not overworked.
Works Cited
Agha, K., F. T. Azmi, and A. Irfan. ‘Work-life Balance and Job Satisfaction: An Empirical Study Focusing on Higher Education Teachers in Oman.’ International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, vol. 7, no. 3, 2017, pp.164 – 167.
Blackburn, J. Joey, J. C. Bunchm, and J. Chris Haynes. ‘Assessing the Relationship of Teacher Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, and Perception of Work-Life Balance of Louisiana Agriculture Teachers.’ Journal of Agricultural Education, vol. 58 no.1, 2017, pp.14-35. Web.
McCarthy, Christopher. ‘Teacher Stress: Balancing Demands and Resources.’ Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 101, no. 3, 2019, pp. 8-14. Web.
Ruslani, M. R., Johari, F. S., Samudin, N. M. R., Zolkapli, N. M., & Basirun, S. N. (2018). Understanding Teachers’ Job Satisfaction Through Work-life Balance Policies. Journal of Academia, vol. 6, no.1, 2018, pp. 112-119. Web.
Whelan, Rod. ‘It’s Time to Get Serious About: Teacher Workload.’ Independent Education, vol. 48, no. 2, 2018, pp. 30-31. Web.