Here We Go...?

** I am in no way claiming to be a great (or even good) writer and am feeling pretty vulnerable in posting this so please be nice. : ) **

I cried in my car today. If you are a teacher, you know this is not anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes we cry because we are sad after hearing about the home life of one of our students. Sometimes we cry because a parent was rude. Sometimes we cry because a student was just. so. defiant. And sometimes we cry because we are simply too stressed and overwhelmed with the 845,987 things we are expected to do by the 20+ students in the classroom at any given time, the parents, administration, and most overwhelmingly, ourselves.

Today the tears came suddenly. I didn't have a list on my desk of the tasks I needed to get done or get a bad review from my principal. My brain just caught up to the fact that there is just so much to get done and the tears started flowing. As I tried to hold them back at a stoplight I looked down and noticed I'd received an e-mail from Learning without Tears. My first thought was, "Why doesn't someone send me an e-mail about how to teach without tears? I might actually make time to read that one!"

I tried to think of ways I might overcome the stress when I got home. I could work on grades or lesson plans, but then I'd find plenty of other things I'd still need to get done, plus I'd be missing out on time with my husband and dog (It's his 5th birthday for goodness sake!). I could exercise, but did I have any energy to complete such a feat? My mind then spiraled into thinking about all of the homework for grad school that needed to be completed last night and still wasn't, and what I was going to cook for dinner, and how much I hate cooking dinner, and.....

Then I breathed. Now, breathing did NOT solve all of my problems. But it gave me a moment to stop and think about how others are handling all of this. Most likely, there are lots of teachers out there going through the same things I am. I started to think about how I wished we could come together and share ways to make it through. Because let's be real, some days that's really all we can do. And then, it hit me. Maybe I should be the one sending out those "Teaching without Tears" e-mails.

I know basically nothing about the blogging world, but I figured everyone likes to read blogs more than e-mails right? I am not entirely sure what will come of it. Maybe it will just be for me, maybe others will get something out of it. My hope is that this can be a place to share ideas about how to make it through those hard days, and maybe even make something great out of them.

Let me know your thoughts and the ways you make it in the comments!