One of the big perks people think about when looking at the life of a teacher is the summer break. This is the first summer in a few years that I’m actually taking the summer off to just relax. This isn’t to say that I’ve taken no time off, but this year I have a full two months with no external demands on my time. This is both very freeing and a little bit nerve wracking for me. I’ve mentioned a few times in the past that I can be very sedentary, and it would be too easy for me to spend the better part of two months sitting on the couch and hating myself after the fact. The problem for me is that I tend to struggle finding the balance between a need to relax and avoiding sloth. There are a few things I’ll be trying to do to relax without being an idle couch potato.
Firstly, I’m going to be spending time with people. Being engaged is helpful for this, as obviously, I’ll be spending a lot of time with her. I also have some colleagues and friends who will be leaving the school, city, and even state for next year, so I definitely want to spend time with them. Between that, a trip to see my godson and spending time with family, that should be plenty to get my but off the couch and out of the apartment.
Secondly, I’m going to try to cut back on watching tv to try and relax with a book more often. In the last year, I’ve bought a couple of new works by JRR Tolkien, so reading those will be a good start. I’m also going to take better advantage of my audio book library to have some literary greats entering my head as the background soundtrack when working around the apartment. I’ve already listened to one, and if you haven’t read Brideshead Revisited, I’d definitely recommend it.
All in all, the reason I’m trying to be intentional about what I’m doing with this time is because I’ve found my idleness doesn’t help me relax. Instead, when I sit around watching tv, playing video games, and generally being a slug, I get anxious and down. This summer, I’m going to relax, and I’m going to do it right.
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