Looking back at the first three months of the year, I feel like I was doing a lot. Classes, the podcast, the freelance workshop series, a coaching course, and participating in professional development were all activities that I enjoyed. Despite that, around the end of March I started feeling like I need to slow down a bit.
What brought me to this decision?
It was actually a combination of things. First off, the more I take on, the less time I have devote to each commitment. That can lead to me producing things that are not up to the quality they deserve to be. Secondly, Chile is going through another difficult time with the pandemic. Despite doing an amazing job with vaccinations, we have been experiencing a record number of daily cases. The vast majority of the country is back in lockdown, and the borders are closed for the rest of the month. The government even declared that only essential items could be sold and delivered as a way of having fewer people out and about doing business. While I haven’t been going out much anyway and don’t plan to travel back home this month, the sense of restriction and overall low morale are affecting a lot of us here.
In addition to those elements, my body has been telling me that I need to do a better job of paying attention to my needs. I started working with a personal trainer as a way of getting back into shape, and my trainer from when I lived in Los Angeles from when I lived there agreed to train me virtually. He’s incredibly patient and an amazing person, and I was so grateful that he was willing to help me. I got through the first session feeling sore, but I knew that is a part of restarting. For the second session I only made it halfway through before my body told me I needed to stop.
I was faced with the reality of how much has changed in the 14 years since I last lived in Los Angeles. I could no longer do the exercise that I used to do. My days of doing kickboxing classes and spinning classes multiple times a week with ease were a different season of life, and now I need exercise that is easier to do (at least for now). I feel like part of this is dealing with limiting beliefs colliding with the reality of being older, but it’s something that I want to work on.
In any case, my plan for April included offering four professional development workshops for teachers. As the lockdown was announced, I started feeling less and less enthusiastic about them. In addition to needing to slow down, I think the last thing that people in Chile (and around the world) need is paid workshops.
I realized that this is a time for me to slow down, focus on my self care, and help other educators do the same. As a way of giving back to the ELT community, I offered a free workshop on self care on Saturday. Five people attended, and it went well. I think it helped people realize that we are all going through struggles with teaching while trying just to get through each day.
I’ve decided to offer the workshop again for free on Saturday April 24th from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you’d like to learn more or register you can click here.
Thanks for reading and I hope you’re taking care of yourself.
