Work Overload, OCD, Allergies, and a Cold

This morning I just need to process a bit about the past few days.  This post is more of an epic journal entry than a food/exercise synopsis, so be forewarned. ;0)

First off, I love my job.  I understand how lucky I am to have a job.  I know how lucky I am that there are still music education jobs out there and that I have one of them.  I get that.  However, this year with the increased class sizes, all the teachers are expected to do more and more with less and less.  We are putting in place a new evaluation system which goes into effect next year.  We are switching over to the common core curriculum. I am trying to switch my music units over to match it and to develop new assessment strategies.  I have felt the stress at work of myself and others climb and climb.  I feel like if a colleague or a parent stops to talk, I hear the clock ticking loudly in my ear because if I can talk, that means it's my prep time and every second of that counts.  That's not good.

At my two schools, I am scheduling guru.  That means that if there is something not working, or if someone needs to change something, I get sucked into the middle of it to solve the problem.  That's what happened at one of my schools this past week.  That's what led to me working through preps, lunches, recesses, and after school preps trying to fix outside problems.  However, I do realize that I am the one who took this on.  It was my choice to take charge of organizing the schedule from the first staff meeting I attended.  I would rather work on it myself and solve things than watch a schedule put together where things are awkward and there is time wasted.  I also like to help others and see if I can make their lives easier.  I like playing Tetris with things and seeing if I can get them to fit in a smoother way.  I think it's a sickness.

Finally, after school on Friday, one of the major problems was solved and the result was an additional 20 minutes of prep a week for the specialists (after being willing to sacrifice some of our existing prep time and then finding out there was additional help I didn't know we had received that day).  I know that doesn't sound like much, but, like I said earlier, every second counts these days.  So I walked out of work finally feeling that my load had lightened, and that now I could focus on prepping for my classes instead of solving others' problems.  I had a great date night with Paul and felt much more free.

Saturday morning, Pip needed to go out at 5:30, so up I got.  Allergies or something sinus-y was setting in, so I took meds and tried to ease the symptoms.  One plus that I received this school year was the benefit of being able to check out an Ipad from the school.  I've been trying to find teacher apps that will make my life easier and help me keep all my information organized in one place.  Early yesterday morning I found it- the perfect teacher app that contained everything that I needed in one place.  That meant that for the next 6 hours, my obsessive compulsiveness kicked in and I transferred over class lists, set up behavior and achievement grading columns, started the work of transferring pictures of my students from my excel spreadsheets to the new system, and working on lesson planning . I didn't stop to eat, to drink my water, to take my vitamins- none of it.  I was like a dog with a bone- gnawing at it, working on it- not willing to give it up.

Finally at 1:15, Paul and I had to get ready for a baptism at the church that he was playing the piano for and at which I was leading the music.  Throughout the morning, I could feel my body fighting.  Three days of stress, not getting proper nutrients into my system, not drinking my water, not taking my vitamins, not stopping to rest, in general- just not taking care of myself- finally hit.  I had a full blown sinus pressure/stuffy nose thing going.  I felt motion sickness in the car on the ride over, and would get overly warm during the service for no reason.  After the baptism, we did some errands, got some groceries, and by the time I got home, I was not a happy camper.  When we were shopping, I couldn't think straight.  I couldn't organize meals. I hadn't made lists earlier of what I needed.  I was tired of never getting ahead of the game and always playing catch-up or barely keeping my head above water.

However, that evening even though I was tired and sick, I continued to work with that new app and finally got all my pics for my Monday school in place.  Did I drink water, rest, or try to introduce vitamins back into my system that would help?  Nope.  I decided to do laundry, wash and groom the dog, and to eat Crunch and Munch.  Lovely.

I went to bed not being able to breathe well, and stressed because I had commitments at church the next day that I needed to take care of and didn't want to stress Paul out with them by staying home and asking him to fill in for me.  I was able to get to sleep, but woke up at 1:30 with a killer headache and sinus pressure that made my teeth hurt.  I took some meds and then went back to bed waiting for it to pass.  On my way down through the family room, the clutter of the room really bothered me (I let Pip disembowel one of his toys on the family room floor, so there were cotton fluff innards everywhere).  In my room, things were cluttered and not put away, so, of course, in the middle of the night, I cleaned my room.  The good thing is is that I started to feel better.  Having a clean, clear room felt good to my heart and soul.  By 3:15 when I went back to bed (Pip had had enough of me with the light on disturbing his sleep that he finally went downstairs and slept on the couch), the headache and sinus pressure were gone.

At 6:18, Pip came back and was whining at my door so I would come and take him outside.  I actually felt much better, so despite my interrupted sleep, I got up without grumbling.  My body was feeling better, but the family room was still a mess, so I straightened, changed laundry loads, and, of course, vacuumed and shampooed the family room carpet.  However, getting things cleaned and taking care of my home was therapeutic.  I felt like I was slowly getting my home and life back.  I knew I was feeling good enough to go to church and take care of my commitments there.  Life was returning to a happy, balanced place again.

So here I type on my Sunday morning reflecting on the past few days.
1.  I know I'm being incredibly blessed that my body is bouncing back from being sick so quickly.
2.  When I don't take care of myself, it increases my stress level even more because I create the perfect conditions for getting sick.
3.  Today is a new day and I'm going to take care of myself with healthy eating and rest.  I'm looking forward to it.
4.  This is a new week and I believe it will be more balanced than the last week ended up being.
5.  Life is going to happen.  There are times when other demands just have to be taken care of and they will take their toll on me.  I just need to dust myself off and keep moving forward.

With those thoughts, I head off to the kitchen to actually stop to eat a healthy breakfast, drink water, and take my vitamins.  Things are good.