Warming up mind, body and soul.

Brrrrrr it's October! My boots and coats are now part of my daily attire, hot chocolate and porridge are dietary staples and I have huddled by my classroom radiator a few times while nobody was looking. This past week has been a really tough one, and not just because it's harder to get out of bed when it's cold. It finally hit me this week that being a teacher is HARD. I always knew it was but I'd been doing so well keeping on top of my work that I was starting to think NQT year might actually be a doddle. WRONG! On Monday I got hit in the face (not literally) with more demands, more work and improvements I can make. I have worked so hard this week I have a proper eye bag situation going on! Thorough marking has been my main target since September, so I am now trying my best!

Anyone who watched Educating Yorkshire this week will agree that it was quite a fitting theme for how I was feeling on Monday. It was a difficult watch for any teacher that knows the passion and dedication that we put into our work for every pupil in our class. Thankfully I've not had a situation quite a grim as Mr Steer's and hopefully I never will!!

When you have such a demanding job, it is so important to make sure that you look after yourself too. It's for your own sanity! Last weekend I escaped teacher life and had a little adventure to North Wales. I went camping with Ryan near Betws-y-coed where we spent the weekend walking in the mountains and Ryan taught me some things about outdoor rock climbing. I climbed up the rock in the picture, eek! Ryan said I was pretty good but I think he was just being nice. In hindsight, running away for the weekend definitely didn't decrease my workload this week, but I was so glad to switch off and get plenty of exercise in the fresh air.

I've not had much time this week for myself. I've worked late at school and still ended up bringing things home to do even though I try so hard not to. Carrying 30+ books up the 3 flights of stairs to our flat is exhausting in itself haha :) On Friday night we finally had a bit of chill out time in our flat; we drank wine, had people over and then Tom played a bit of GTA while I relaxed with a magazine. Ironically enough Zest Magazine had a feature about doubling your energy and keeping a work-life balance, pfft! An app advertised in the magazine did catch my eye though. The HeadSpace App is based around meditation techniques and challenges you to take 10 minutes off every day. I thought this would be interesting to try as I am ALWAYS thinking about what I need to do for work. I will let you know thoughts after my first 10 day stretch!

This morning Ryan helped me de-clutter the flat. I have never enjoyed the smell of bleach so much! I'm off to do a bit of work for school before my parents arrive for Sunday Dinner :) I hope you all had a good weekend.