This is our 8th installment in our blog series for educators
Teaching is not for everyone. It requires a commitment to gaining extensive education. The pay can be low, and the demands are high. The level of personal giving supersedes most other careers. However, it can also be described as a calling. So many teachers have aspired to that profession their entire lives. For as long as they can remember they wanted to be a teacher. Or, as an adult they found other jobs unfulfilling and felt a craving to enter the field of education. They want to give. They want to help. They want to make the world a better place. That sense of usefulness gnawing at them is what could be defined as the drive to fulfill their Life’s Purpose. Using their mind and their patience to help and guide others. But what happens when they reach their goal, and the job is not what they expected? They give and help and give some more. The demands placed on them climb and feel endless; it’s not just giving; it is an endless ocean of need. Somewhere inside their subconscious they may mutter, “How can my Life’s Purpose make me burnout? Isn’t that counter intuitive? My Purpose should fulfill me and make me stronger.”
Clearly, what we have is a disconnect. Doing what you love or feel driven to do as your livelihood is not supposed to burn you out. In fact, the opposite should occur. We have all heard the adage, “If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.” Teachers love the concept of teaching and in its truest sense it is a noble calling. However, in our present time, teachers are expected to be much more than what is defined by the calling. Additional work, new challenges, the expectation that they do more with fewer resources all contribute to the emotional crisis that many are feeling. The problem can be corrected, but it requires a new approach. You cannot expect educators to adapt and respond to the new state of student emergency if you have not first adapted and responded to the way that you treat them. There is a crisis in the classroom, but it is not just the students that need to be addressed. All educators need to be nurtured emotionally so they are better equipped to combat and sustain in this new era of demands being placed on them. They need to be shown how to make boundaries and draw parameters. They need to be given permission to give to themselves. They need to be guided and accept that their personal strength and mental health needs to be a priority. By doing so, it will avoid burnout, depression, and the heightened sense of anxiety that plagues so many in the profession.
Teaching is a calling. It is the Life Purpose for many. Schools need to support educators in their personal journey to guide and help their students. If they do, they will be rewarded with professionals that are able to go back to doing what they do best and what many feel they were born to do: teaching.