2026 has been a very draining year so far. A few things have happened in my personal life that have made it hard for me to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. My life feels scattered and I don’t know how to collect and put the pieces back together.
This has of course reflected on my job. If your daily work involves taking care of the educational and psychological needs of dozens of teenagers, how can you do it when you find it hard to manage your own mental health and emotions?
I have often felt like I needed a break from school in these past few months. On the one hand, going to school, thinking about lessons, materials, assessment, and so on has helped take my mind off the difficult things happening at home. On the other hand, I feel I need to preserve the few mental and emotional energies left to take care of myself, of my own needs, and that there are very few left to take care of others’.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as an “emotional turmoil leave of absence” at work, so I’ve had to endure it all in silence, trying to do my best not to show how a mess I am inside. I wish teachers’ mental and emotional health were taken more seriously.
This is not a job in which you can just sit in front of a computer and type your way through your day. I’m not saying that such a type of job would be easy to do in my situation. What I’m saying is that if your job involves taking care of others, you can’t be left alone. Unfortunately, that’s precisely what most educational institutions do.