Personal Days

I had a teacher friend message me yesterday and tell me that even though they've always felt guilty for taking any personal time, they requested two days off in order to travel for a long weekend. They said I "convinced" them, which is pretty hilarious to me, because most of the time, I'm trying convince myself of such things (taking leave, saying no, putting yourself and your family ahead of your job...all things I've not been great about in the past).

During my first several years of teaching, the guilt that accompanied any leave request was awful, so I completely understood what my friend meant.

There are a lot of things I wish I could tell my younger self because I constantly stayed at school super late and I said yes to too many commitments. In terms of not doing these unhealthy things, I'm still a work in progress, but one thing I've gotten much better about as I've gotten older is not feeling guilty when I take time off.

Why should I? I've earned that time! Those ten sick days and three personal days were touted as perks when I was interviewing for teaching positions!

So while I still may stay at school way too late some days and admittedly still say yes to too many things, I've already submitted leave requests for ALL of my personal days this year. I did it last week and I'm feeling rather proud of that! I know it's easier for me to do so in my current role than it was when I was a classroom teacher, but I still want to encourage my fellow teachers to use that personal time as you see fit. You don't have to travel or do anything that costs money; maybe a personal day for you is relaxing at home, reading a book, watching a movie, or catching up on sleep.

However you want to spend it, it's your time to spend! And you should NOT feel guilty about it! I can't even describe how much I'm looking forward to those personal days, even though the first one is still months away!

this is likely how Ginny
would spend a personal day

Happy Tails to you!