Stress Management What?

It's Back to School time and, while parents everywhere are cheering and celebrating, teachers like myself are cringing. Well, not all of us. But I am.

I've been seeing this guy off and on - a football coach at my school - and he seems to have positive things to say about this year's batch. Take into consideration, please, that he's seeing motivated kids who are willing to be out in the Texas heat over their summer just to play football. So, yeah, I would expect them to be rather good right now.

I don't hold out a whole lot of hope. As our state rolls out a brand-new, revamped, reworked standardized test, our elected representatives found a brilliant way to cut funds for education. Teachers across the state have been laid off and districts can't afford to spend money on any programs and even supplies. Where many teachers bought supplies with their own money, that's an impossibility since I think every district has frozen our already-substandard salaries.

If we weren't overworked before, we certainly will be this year. The last few days of trainings and meetings have brought back all the physical symptoms of job-related stress that I was feeling at the end of the year (oh, hell...who am I kidding? it was ALL YEAR) and it's killing me. My stomach is all tied in knots and my digestive system is all jacked up. I've had a headache for days. So bad, in fact, that I've been vomiting and it mimics a migraine - although I'm not sure that's what it was, technically.

I don't want this year to be the one where I walk out in the middle of a day, never to return, just to keep myself healthy. I have no idea what I'd do for a job if that happened, anyway. I've been trying to maintain a positive attitude about the upcoming academic year and, let me tell you, it's been hard. I don't buy in to the rumors and stories coming from the other teachers. I prefer to develop my own opinion of the kids once they show up.

Anyway, I have this weekend to fully relax before I go back to start Teacher Week Back. The Boy's taking me on a camping trip to a lake north of here and I plan on thoroughly enjoying myself, thank you very much! I'm excited and I'm going to take this time to appreciate what's left of my summer...all four days of it.

In that same vein, I gotta run. Time to get packed up!