Taking Time for Me

I wrote the following article, in slightly different form, for the Reflections page of the March/April 1999 issue of Creative Classroom magazine. Although I am retired now, the discovery about taking time for me, is forever timely.

I love working in my garden. But recently, whenever I did, a little voice inside my head said, “Shouldn’t you be working in your classroom?” So it was on a beautiful Saturday in late November, with moist soil stuck to my hands, the sun on my back, beads of sweat on my face (and my glasses slipping down my nose), that I gained perspective on an issue that I had not realized, until then, was an issue.

I have never devoted as much time and energy to teaching as I do today. Once there was a time when I finished each day with some energy in reserve. It was easier then to draw a line between my professional and personal life. But now I find myself working many hours after school and even going to school to work on weekends. It’s easy to get into a cycle where enough never seems to be enough. And in the process, we can lose a sense of ourselves.

That’s what I discovered—rediscovered—in my garden that day: how good it felt to be outdoors, to get some exercise, to do something that benefited me. I returned to school on Monday feeling truly refreshed. Time for me gave me more energy for my students.

Gardening is my way of nurturing my plants and also myself. One of my colleagues takes in a movie every Friday afternoon. Another goes sailing on San Francisco Bay. Each of us has something that restores and invigorates us—going to an art museum, hearing chamber music, walking beside the ocean, cooking a gourmet meal, visiting friends or family.

As teachers, we can’t devote every moment to our students. By doing so, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to enjoy the very things that can strengthen and sustain us. By participating in the larger world, rather than limiting our boundaries to the classrooms of a school, we function better and can put into context the work we do.