Take care of your health!

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Home : 2003 : September : 29

Take care of your health!
By Jade

Such a cynic, Coach! I'm certainly not in this profession for any extra appreciation I might get.

Monica, make sure you take care of your health. Don't forget to eat and when you do, don't let it be all fast food and
junk. Drink LOTS of water, and while it's not easy, get plenty of sleep. You will be much better able to handle the stressed of the job if you force yourself to just put the papers down and go to bed or to make a decision to not think about things too much. Planning, as was said in an earlier post, will help you with this.
Try to eliminate unnecessary stress. I still stay later than

I should and while I take work home on weekends sometimes, I absolutely, positively will NOT go back in on the weekend. Enough is enough! No lesson has to be perfect, few lessons ever are. Save your big stresses about lessons for when it counts--like in an observation. Don't take on new outside obligations (club officer, for example). Find activities that relax you and take you far away from the classroom. Join a choir or a bowling league or a gym. Stress will bring you down healthwise faster than just about anything.

You need to keep your resistance up. As you have probably been told, not only is the first year exhausting but you are also being bombarded with all of those cute little germs you haven't been hit with before. During my first three months teaching I got something new every two weeks! Even now I try to be aware of how I'm treating myself, especially near the end of the year when I'm especially vulnerable and tired. That's when I get big things like bronchitis and sinus infections.

It's only September, Monica! It will get better and you will feel better. Give yourself some credit. Believe in yourself and the panic attacks will subside--mostly!!