Stressed Out

What a week!!! Between the ACT, a packed schedule, the stomach virus and a substitute shortage, stress had me maxed out early this week. When we got through the ACT on Tuesday without a hitch despite a million reasons why it should have failed, I must admit that I felt a little foolish. I stressed out because I thought that I had to control everything. That's not a natural reaction for me, so when I feel like I have to make the impossible happen I try to over work things and I stress out. What I really should have done was trusted my team. No one would ever have known that we operated school and the ACT with 10 teachers out.

March is a tough month on teachers. We have so many things begging for our time and attention and you feel stressed because no matter how hard you work, you just can't seem to make it all happen. You lose sleep, and you can actually start to feel sick. Science calls stress the "silent killer" because high stress can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and an irregular heart beat. Stress is a natural reaction our bodies take to heighten our senses as a survival technique. That seems ironic, because when I'm stressed out I feel like I'm barely surviving! 

Toward the end of the week I vowed to work on keeping my stress level lower in an effort to improve my performance and my faith in my team. I encourage you all to take a lesson from my mistake. Trust your team. We forget that so many of us can and will support one another like a family. Students and parents also contribute to that team as well. Having faith in what we have built and those that are with us each day makes any situation better. And if that still doesn't work, science also has shown that laughter and chocolate both have proven to reduce stress!