Day 27: Look at the Clouds

My sister has a big wooden swing in her backyard. It used to be more accessible than it is now, since the tree it rests under has grown into something enormous, hiding the swing to the point it can be easy to forget it’s even back there. 

Not many years ago, I used to occasionally hang out in the swing and talk with my cousin’s wife when she was in town. Usually we'd talk about the things happening at the schools where we taught, how they affected us, and how we felt about them. This almost inevitably led to a fair amount of griping, because even though we’re both very committed to our jobs and we’re pretty good at them, there are unavoidable stressors that come with being a teacher, just like there would be with any other job. Having jobs so similar meant we were able to understand and appreciate each other’s complaints about frustrations and grading and social politics at a level many other people couldn’t. 

Eventually we’d get fired up after sharing these stories, which was counterproductive to sitting in a big wooden swing in the spring or summer or fall and just relaxing. When we realized how we were letting our frustrations encroach on our time away from school, one of us would cut things off, settle back in the swing, and say, “Just look at the clouds.” It became a code after awhile, reminding us to move on from the complaining, let the problems exist unto themselves for the time being, and to take advantage of the opportunity we had in the moment to recharge.

I have eight days of school left this year — I’m counting it as eight because I typically don’t count our work days, when students aren’t at school and I can get things done without trying to manage the behaviors of 30 kids, most of whom would prefer to not have their behaviors managed in the final days before summer vacation. Those final days can be a time when all emotions are heightened. This is especially true for the students, who can be feeling anything from excitement over a summer vacation about to begin to a pervasive fear of facing three months with not having the daily security and routine in their lives that school provides.

For anyone starting their summer with a laundry list of unknowns, or struggling through the final days of a school year, or really experiencing any kind of a trial that might bring on unnecessary anxiety, today’s post is just a friendly reminder. You might not have as much control over every aspect of your life that you’d like to, and there could very well be things going on that are difficult for you right now or will be in the near future. Just remember, you have it in you to decide how you will manage a lot of what you’re feeling and how you react to things. 

Sometimes the best thing to do is just pause for a few moments, and look at the clouds.