miniseries: taking care of yourself and others · scheduling

Schedule some time for yourself in 2013.

Stacey Shubitz
A small peek into the Tweets about the post I wrote back in November.
A small peek into the Tweets about the post I wrote back in November.

I had the idea for a post about busyness and productivity rattling around in my mind for while, but it wasn’t until late November that I had the guts to publish it since I wasn’t sure how it would be received. (In case you missed it, click here to read “Be more than busy. Be productive. Be happy.”) A few hours after I sent my thinking off into the world, I received notifications from Twitter.  It seemed a few folks started discussing it during #titletalk. While I wasn’t partaking in #titletalk that night, I got involved in the conversation about the post I wrote. With some encouragement, I decided to devote some blog time to the topic of living a happier life as a person and as an educator.

Since January is often seen as a time for renewal and new habits, I want to encourage you to leave school earlier one day a week.  I know I suggested this in “Be more than busy. Be productive. Be happy.”  However, I know how challenging it can be to schedule a concrete departure time at least once a week.  Therefore, if my post in November got you thinking, then I hope this one will move you to action.

I alluded to the fact that I began leaving school earlier one day a week in the Fall of 2008.  I started doing this for health reasons.  What did I do when I left the building? I went to Pilates.  I did it because physical therapy didn’t do enough to help me rebuild my strength after my 2007 surgery.  Therefore, I wanted to try Pilates, which is notorious for helping people develop core strength.  Therefore, I started by leaving at 4:00 p.m. every Thursday for a few months to work with a trainer. Eventually, I left early on Mondays and Thursdays so I could do Pialtes.  No exceptions. I still called parents using my wireless headset in my car and resumed lesson planning and grading in the evenings.  However, the idea of leaving early to do something for myself helped to strengthen me physically, which made me have more energy to deal with an active group of fourth graders.

Prior to getting the wild notion to leave at 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays, which was the only time I was able to get into the instructor’s schedule, I freaked out about it.  The two biggest things I worried about were:

How would I ever get everything ready for the next day if I left at 4:00 p.m.? 

I had been in the habit of leaving the building around 5:00 p.m., at the earliest, in years past. Seeing as I got into school at 7:00 a.m. and worked from home every night, I realized I would need to become more efficient!

What would my colleagues think of me if I left early? 

This was HUGE, especially since I needed to change into workout clothes at school to make it to Pilates by 4:30 p.m.  I worried people would think I was lazy or, worse, that I didn’t care about my students.

After having several long talks with my husband and parents about my fears, they assured me I could get everything done and that people could think whatever they wanted because I needed to start taking better care of myself.

I won’t lie, becoming more efficient at the end of the day took a few weeks, but I was able to make it work.  (It often meant cutting conversations about the day with my friends short so I could leave by 4:00.)  As for the colleagues, I will admit that I did get a fair amount of strange looks when I started turning down requests to stay late to do common planning or to meet with a parent on a Thursday.  Whenever I turned down something, I would always come back with other times I could meet (e.g., a prep, before school, or another day of the week after school) so as to not appear uninterested. Once I made it clear that I couldn’t meet at a requested time a few times, it became clear that my personal workout time was a priority, not a luxury.

Back on November 25th, I made an assertion in response to a Tweet from Cindy Minnich:

Sane people make better teachers.

I share that statement with you as a means to nudging you towards carving out some time for yourself.  It’s up to you to do something for yourself that will nurture your physical, mental, or spiritual health at least one afternoon a week.  What will you do?

Some reflective questions to help you get started:

  • What has been standing in the way of you leaving early, one day a week, on a regular basis?
  • What day will you select to make time for yourself after school?  To that end, what time will you drop everything and walk out of the door?
  • How will you regularly schedule time to leave early when it feels hard to do so?

If you need to hear another person’s perspective on this topic, check out Claire Hennessy’s post, “Kindness is an inside job,” over at The Kindness Project.

Finally, since Ruth and I write on alternating Fridays, I’ve decided to devote the next four Fridays (i.e., 1/18, 2/1, 2/15, and 2/28* 3/1) to take care of yourself posts.  (I’m terrible with titling things, so if you have a suggestion with a title for this mini-series of posts, then please share it!) While I know I should be writing about writing, I think you can only be an effective (writing) teacher if you’re a happy and healthy person. And that starts with taking care of yourself. Now.

*= Updated on 2/7/13: I realized that 3/1 is the first day of the SOLSC. Therefore, I’m going to post my final piece in this miniseries on Thursday, 2/28.

Published by Stacey Shubitz

I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island. I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010). I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.

20 thoughts on “Schedule some time for yourself in 2013.”

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  3. I loved your post in November and this one. It reminds me of Brenda Power’s challenge to “take no work home for a week” in Taking Note. A group of us did that one year while reading Power’s book for a graduate class. It changed how I use my time: at school and at home. You are a stronger ___ (everything really) when you take time to recharge, renew and strengthen yourself. Whether that comes from physical exercise, professional reading or investing in a hobby. Kudos to you! I’m off to boot camp this evening thinking of you and your Pilates class!

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  4. I loved your post in November and this one. It reminds me of Brenda Power challenges to “take no work home for a week” in Taking Note. A group of us did that one year while reading Power’s book for a graduate class. It changed how I use my time: at school and at home. You are a stronger ___ (everything really) when you take time to recharge, renew and strengthen yourself. Whether that comes from physical exercise, professional reading or investing in a hobby. Kudos to you! I’m off to boot camp this evening thinking of you and your Pilates class!

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  5. Stacey, thank you so much for sharing 🙂 In the past, I’ve stayed at work until 5 pm on most days. Now that I’m pregnant, I’m making sure to focus more on myself and my(& baby) needs and leave around or before 4 p.m. Feels great 🙂

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  7. I too leave early on Thursdays! It is my evening of volunteering at a local library bookstore. I love it! I get hang out with friends, browse and chat about interesting books, and most of all, observe and meet with interesting people. I go home tired, but definitely uplifted. Like my word for the year: I irrigate my soul! Now I just need to work on the other days 🙂

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  10. Stacey, I think this post applies to not only teachers but as a reminder to all of us to “take time for ourselves”. Since I only work 2 days a week, I have the luxury of taking more me time. For those of you who work, have young children, and are involved in a multitude of activities, you absolutely need the “me” time to stay sane and healthly. I look forward to the rest of your mini series.

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  12. Stacey,
    Your post plays right along with my OLW-balance! I felt more organized than ever before because of paying attention to balance.
    After reading the post here, I am aware that I am guilty of staying too late too often. The reminder to treat myself to an early exit at least one day a week is doable…
    Now to pick the day and the activity~
    Thanks for the inspiration!

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  13. A perfect post in the new year. It’s funny that we need to reminded of this and that it’s OK to leave early. After I had my twin girls and returned to full time teaching, I had to become more efficient! I leave by 4 every day to pick up my girls and spend time with them the rest of the evening. My ME time has now (well, at least the last 4 days of this week!) come early in the morning with a workout. I feel better already!

    I look forward to your future posts and I so agree with your thoughts and encourage you to write not only about writing but about teaching and life and me-time.

    I think you came up with your own mini-series title already: “Sane people make better teachers.” 🙂 Or a simple “Time for You.”

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  14. Oh yes! a conversation I was having this evening over dinner. Husband ” and when are you going to take time for yourself?? are you waiting for retirement to workout?”

    I have to say I started laughing when I read your post a bit later. It seems more than one person thinks teacher need to take care of themselves by being physically active. O.K. so I am call the Pilates coach tomorrow. Then I can check off I am working towards goal three of the new year! Thanks for the push!

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  15. I’m trying not to laugh at the irony of being mentioned in this post tonight. I was at school when it posted – and just got home about an hour and a half ago. Sometimes it goes both ways. It’s about balancing obligations and sometimes it means putting in the time. I spent last three nights w/my son & let things pile up while we spent time together. So I decided tonight I’d cross some things off and this weekend I’ll be holed up in my office in jammy pants with my coffee plugging away. But I have been good about leaving otherwise. Maybe TOO good. 🙂 That’s why I needed to put this time in on work to keep me sane.

    I love your post. It makes me think about how we all need to make priorities. And sometimes they shift. Not permanently. Just necessarily. Next Monday we’ll be back to our family routine here and I’ll be a much more sane person after some much needed time to take care of that part of my life, too.

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  16. I remember that post; I think I commented on it, and you did mention that you were leaving early for Pilates. I remember thinking you had inspired me so much that I was going to start leaving early one day a week to take a walk…just as soon as things got less busy. Here it is Jan., I’m still waiting for things to get less busy, and I had forgotten about that promise to myself. Sad. I look forward to reading your next posts on this topic. I’m so tired after school I can’t even begin to think about HOW to be more efficient. Perhaps the trick is to think about that before the end of the day: maybe make a list of priorities, etc. Thanks for the reminder!

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  18. I agree with you completely. I recently started taking an afternoon/evening off a week, usually Wednesdays. It may have been your November post that triggered this idea in my mind. I leave school at an “early” time without my bag or laptop. Some weeks it’s harder to do than others, but it’s been worth it. When it’s been a rough day, having that time to look forward to is great. Plus, I’m more refreshed for the rest of the week. I’ve always said that teaching is a profession that will take as much time from us as we give it – we could work 10-12 hour days every day and still feel like there’s more to do.

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