Advice for Going Back to Work When You Don’t Want to

I’m about to type the three most dreaded (or delightful) words a teacher can read in the dead heat of summertime:

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Back. To. School. 

These words are everywhere. You can’t escape them. Target: Back to school! Walmart: Back to school! Commercials: Back to school! It’s haunting (or hyping) all of us. 

In Texas this week, many of my colleagues are swapping out our tank tops and dusting off our slacks and polos in preparation for the start of another school year. Usually, teachers are excited about this time of year. However, for many of my veteran comrades in Texas, at least, many teachers and administrators are bracing for the worst, not because the job is unrewarding or because working and teaching isn’t desirable. Instead, the looming apprehension of another school year here stems from elements out of a teacher’s control (besides voting). Decisions made by individuals who’ve never or barely taught a class are straining the familiar optimism we’re commonly acquainted with this time of year. 

The primary contributing factor to those bracing for chaos is Governor Abbott holding hostage much-needed public education funds in exchange for private school tax breaks for his multi-millionaire donors. With budget deficits, permanent school closures, and personnel cuts, many educators and administrators statewide are desperately trying to conjure their usual positive emotions in the face of increased responsibilities and less pay. (And more controversy.)

Additionally, local school officials (depending on which school district you’re in) aren’t making the job any easier. For example, this almost agreeable post by a school board member with the unnecessary endorsement of a candidate in the United States presidential race or this police officer who spent excessive amounts of time photographing books in a school library for evidence to get a school librarian fired. Or the tedious task English teachers must endure of scanning every book in their classroom to ensure their books are accessible and acceptable for parents (or non-parents) who may not even have a student in their class.

But in the face of all this (and much more), I want to offer some advice and hope (hopefully). Below, I offer some tips on how teachers can get “back to school” if they feel overwhelming dread about returning to the classroom. I think the advice can also be helpful for anyone looking to return to work after much-needed time off (even if it’s just the weekend). 

Advice on making the most of your year when you know it will be tough. 

1. Acceptance. One mistake many veteran teachers make is trying to ignore the looming difficulties of a school year and “putting on a happy face.” In my short, barely over-a-decade career as an educator, I realize it’s possible to do both—put on a happy face and accept the difficulties. However, inhaling and exhaling toxic positivity will send the most sensible teacher bonkers. Your conscience will only allow you to ignore the calamity around you for so long before you turn into a full-time bitter and cynical pessimist. Breathe and accept your situation, and consider my second piece of advice.  

2. Big Picture. Remember your big picture when work gets overwhelming in a web of administrative tasks, rules, or “shiny and innovative new” technologies.

   I don’t want to insult you with cliches like, “We’re investing in the next generation” or “You’re changing lives,” even though we are. But sometimes, hearing these big-picture cliches feels insulting in the face of difficulty.

   So, instead, find your big picture. It might be that you’re just collecting a paycheck. Some leaders bristle at this, but sometimes, that’s our reality. But the bigger picture of “just collecting a paycheck” is who you can provide for with that check. That paycheck allows you to invest in yourself so you can come back tomorrow. That paycheck will enable you to continue being a contributing member of society. That “just a paycheck” provides the opportunity to continue dreaming and perhaps even terraforming¹.

   As you reconsider your “why” for teaching, consider my third point of advice.

3. Look Again. Stop trying to recreate the wonderful summer you just had. Stop reliving the most significant moments of your teaching and coaching career with the hopes of recreating those past experiences. Authors Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein suggest in their book Look Again that you should think about your life when your mind floods with discontent. But think about your life without your family, friends, your job, and everything you enjoy about your life. When we are used to—or habituated if you will—to something good, our emotions can become susceptibly numb to it. If you practice this small imaginative journey of loss you might rediscover how terrific your job and your life truly is.

   “For example,” Sharot and Sunstein write, “if you are lucky enough to have secured your dream job, you may no longer feel the ‘Wow!’ when you enter your office, but you are aware that it is a great position. This is because your explicit assessment of what is good does not habituate as fast as your feelings.” So let the discontent go, but hang on tightly to the experiences you gain every day with gratefulness and appreciation. So try putting less emphasis on “how things used to be” or how much better they could be. Appreciate the past as they are experiences that molded you into the teacher or coach who can take on a potentially problematic year. And imagine how much better things could be with the power of change you wield.  

I write this advice as someone who desperately needs to hear it himself. Going back to work is hard, especially if you thoroughly enjoy your family and community and are pulled from the people in your life that matter most. But as I tell my track and field athletes, we can do hard things. 

Remember, you’re not alone. I need advice as much as anyone else. So, what advice do you have for me returning to work? Do you have routines or rituals that help you mentally prepare for work? Please let me know in the comments!

1. Check out the book Terraform by artist, poet, and author Propaganda. It will affect your perspective on our communal life on earth. I guarantee it. Or at least check out this video: