And It Knocks You Down

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

When life isn't going right, go left.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.


You know the saying - no matter how you say it, the sentiment is the same, as demonstrated above - and we've all been there. Life gets tough. And sometimes it seems that life keeps knocking you down when you've already been knocked down in the first place.

For me, this week was one of those "knock you down" weeks. On Monday, things were going fine minus a few sneezes and a bit of a sore throat. Didn't think much of it, but I ate some chicken noodle soup, bought some orange juice and strawberries, took some meds, and went to bed early just to be on the safe side.

Tuesday morning rolled around, and it was hard to even think about lifting my head. I knew I was not able to be a functioning human being, so I texted my principal and took a sick day (when I proceeded to spend all of it on the couch in a combo of napping, reading, trying to get as much Vitamin C as possible, and listening to podcasts...and then more napping).

On Wednesday, things were looking (and feeling) better. The weather was beautiful, we had girls running club, and we celebrated our 8th grade athletes at the sports banquet. On my way home, though, my tire pressure light came on about 2 miles from home. When I pulled into my garage and got out of the car to check, I saw it - a very flat rear passenger tire. I texted my principal right away - I couldn't believe it! I never miss work, and here I was missing at least 1.5 days in the same week.

Luckily I have AAA, so I called them first thing on Thursday morning, and they came within an hour and a half. While I was waiting, I ended up talking to my dad on the phone. (He was on his way to the dentist, so I don't know which of us was having the worse morning...) He said I sounded surprisingly calm about the tires. I wondered in a situation like this, when there's nothing I could do about it, how I could not be calm or where, exactly, worrying/freaking out would get me? Apparently, I used to be more of a freaker-outer. I guess times have changed...

Once they put on the spare, I headed to a local tire place recommended by a friend. It would be about 2 hours for them to take care of my car, as they had a long line of customers who had previously made appointments. So, I left my car there, headed back home, went for a quick run, got cleaned up and ready for work, and then went back to the car place. By then, my car was ready to go (the tire was patchable...but the front tire was in need of replacing, so they took care of that while they were at it), and I was finally on my way to school...got there right in time for lunch duty.

At the end of the day, which was actually the end of the 1:30-4pm teacher PD session, my principal and I found out that one of our teachers will not be returning next year. It was somewhat of a shock...and we already have quite a few leaving (most of whom are retiring)...so that added a bit more stress...sent some texts to friends before heading out to send quality candidates my way, so praying and crossing fingers on this one.

My purpose in writing this post is not to complain. The truth is, it's kind of comical how everything hits you at once...that when it rains it pours...or, well, you know... It reminds me a bit of that quote that goes along the lines of this: "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." And it also made me realize that my troubles pale in comparison to those that others deal with (some on a regular basis), so who am I to get worked up over these more trivial things that happen to anyone on any given day.

Bottom line - it's not worth the stress or the fretting. Take another look and it suddenly ain't so bad.

Just Be...Held

For some reason a few weeks ago, I found myself in tears on my way home from school. A bunch of upcoming deadlines combined with classroom stress and upcoming conferences was apparently more than I could bear in that given moment.

I had been listening to a podcast, but I found it too hard to concentrate, so I turned it off. In the silence (and in the dark - let's face it, I haven't left school before 5pm for the past month), I didn't know what to do except cry out (and cry it out, for that matter).

I ended up turning on the radio, and these were the words I heard:

Just be held.
Your world's not falling apart, its falling into place. 
I'm on the throne, stop holding on and just be held, 
Just be held, just be held.

Can we just pause <dramatically> here for a second? Really, could the timing have been any better? I felt like I had found my personal soundtrack. The only thing I was missing from my very own Hollywood movie scene was foggy windows with rain slipping down the glass.

The song just struck me, as many a song has in my life. (I like music, what can I say?) And I was suddenly filled with peace. It's hard to explain, but I stopped crying and realized that the things that were bogging me down with worry were not deserving of my energy, stress, and tears. In our great, big world, I am so very small.

In that moment, I needed to know that. I needed to hear that. I needed to believe that.

Just be held. Yes, God - hold me now.

Because It's Friendship...

I felt like I was moving in slow motion today. And no matter what I did, I realized I had about 50 more things on my plate, including things I had to fix. On top of it all, I'm in report card mode - grades and comments were due today for review, so, needless to say, it's been a little hectic in our building these past few days.

My mind has literally been going in a thousand directions all week. And that's precisely why I needed to take a break this evening and phone a good friend. I needed to laugh, to share, to listen, and to breathe. She helped me do all these things.

Good friends do that.

Here's to friendship! God sure knew what He was doing by giving us the gift of others...

Brace Yourself: The Stress is Coming...

End of school year = stress

Brace yourself.

Well, I suppose I should phrase that as "brace myself" or "brace yourself to see evidence of stress overtaking my life." I can't really explain it, but the inevitable and quickly approaching "pack up, clean up, check off, and get out" strikes a chord each year.

Seeing as I have finished all immediately required tasks and grading (at least, I think I have), I chose to put my stressful energy to creative means. Please realize that I am no artist - I'm definitely not claiming to be one - but I think it's helpful to have artistic hobbies...

(image of girl adapted from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/72/2a/25/722a2564afdfeafed27c978fbc0fa51b.jpg) 

Bring it on, end of the year. I'm ready for you...

I think...

Stressing Less

Guess what goes first when the stress, "homework," and activities pile on...

Blogging!

Yes, this past week was surely a stressful one. In fact, heading into the weekend, I was stressing out because there was just way too much to accomplish this weekend (in my mind).

However, with a little help from last year's lesson plans & supplemental activities for my religion classes, I was able to pull together my classroom activities for the week more quickly than if I had needed to invent them from scratch. Report card comments and final grade overrides took a long time, but it wasn't nearly as long as I expected. Young Adult retreat planning also took less time than I thought it would. For Language Arts, I was able to make a solid (cheap) purchase on TPT for Hero's Journey materials that I didn't have to create those activities either.

In fact, things moved along so much better than expected this weekend, I got extra things done, including a skeleton of retreat ideas for the three 4-8th grade retreats coming up in Advent. (Yay!)

God is so good. I have to learn to stress less. It will all get done...eventually. (Or, in this case, it will get done sooner than expected.)

Camel's Back...

The last thing any teacher wants at the end of a long day and on the eve of parent-teacher conferences is an email saying all lesson plans for the week after Thanksgiving break need to be turned into the office by Tuesday afternoon.

Talk about adding to the stress. Conferences (whether easy or with tension) are tough enough - and so time-consuming to prepare and execute. Ah!

Let's just say that the email/request was almost the straw that broke this camel's back. (As my sister and I concluded yesterday - Does the work ever end? Is it worth it to put up with all the parents and misbehaved students?...)

Well, once I let off some steam, I did find some consolation - since I teach Religion, at least we'll be learning about Advent. So, while I had to do a lot of background research on the topic of Church history (Apostolic Age to present) because I didn't have much of an idea of what happened during that time, I don't have to do quite so much to prepare myself to plan the lessons for this topic. And (thank goodness) I can use some of the same activities across grade levels.

We'll definitely be doing a Jesse Tree...

In the long run, I guess b****ing and moaning doesn't help that much. If anything, I need to remember to stay calm, buckle down, and get it done. After all, it will be better to have those lesson plans finished so I can enjoy Thanksgiving break.

Oh, and plan those 4 mini retreats for our campus too...

10 Miles - Woot!

10 miles down and feelin' pretty good.

We sure lucked out with race day weather, that much I am sure about. And my sister and I finished under our goal of 1:30:00 for the race, which is awesome.

Yesterday was a little stressful with finishing grades and writing comments for report cards, but today is already looking much brighter (and a little more stress-free). 

I think I may try to write a couple of assessments for my 6th and 8th grade religion classes later on, but then tonight I am putting the work away and enjoying a night out with a couple friends in support of Catholic Charities.

(I hope there's dancing...)

Actively Choosing to Stress Less

I just realized earlier this evening that when this week ends there will only be three more weeks of school until Christmas break. Amazing yet stressful at the same time. (I feel like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars - "stay on target...stay on target...") So much to fit in, but so much to look forward to: heading home, relaxing and sleeping, visiting with family and friends, enjoying warmer weather...

So, it's time to remember to keep things in perspective - yes, there are many things to get done, but nothing is the end of the world. Plans may need to be adjusted, added to, or (likely) taken away from...and that's okay. In fact, that's life.

Some people may mistake that notion of not being worried over things for being either careless, lazy, or even oblivious. But it's not. It's an active choice made from deep within one's self - it's understanding deep down that most things are out of our control, so it's time to give those things up to God in prayer.

So, maybe I need a list like this -->

My favorites are 1, 5, 8, & 10. What about yours?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On an unrelated note, I tried again today to listen to Christmas music this afternoon on the way home from school, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. I really think I'm conditioned to be ready for the holiday season when Advent starts...and not a moment before.

So, for now (at least), my radio is tuned to NPR and country music. (But don't get me wrong, I'm eagerly looking forward to Advent.)

The Calm Before the Storm

Two more days until the 2012-2013 school year begins. Well, we won't have students yet, but there will be plenty of meetings to attend, rooms to set up, lessons to plan...

It's certainly been nice these past few days to just relax - I've been mostly on my own, which has been a pretty good way for me to deal with stress because, let's face it, I can't handle a lot of people when I'm stressed. And it's not even that I'm stressed - I don't think I am...yet...but it's kind of like the calm before the storm, and for that, I like to be alone.

And that calm is something I want to have for this Monday and Tuesday too. In fact, my only definite plans are to take my car in for an oil change on Monday afternoon, to run with my sister on Tuesday morning, and to go to an ACE Advocates meeting Tuesday evening. Come to think of it, that's kind of nice to think about - it won't be like that once school starts up, and forget about quite a lot of "me" time when we actually get the students. But that has an appeal all its own - once those kids walk in the door, they're mine.

And that's pretty nice to think about too.