I used to cry often about my job as a teacher. I was completely exhausted and overwhelmed for years. I would take work home and stress over getting it all done. It kept me up at night.
Then something magical happened where I legit just stopped caring. I’m not even sure what the breaking point was specifically. But I do not care about my job at all anymore.
I only work during my contracted hours—I never take it home anymore. If I think about work when I’m not there I say to myself “I’m not getting paid for this time” and think about something else.
When I’m at work I do the best I can and get accomplished whatever I can and take it day by day. In pointless faculty meetings I watch my coworkers get upset (just like I used to every time) and I feel like Neo looking at the bullets at the end of The Matrix when he lets them fall to the ground.
I’ve never felt more free and able to live my life. This has never happened to me before and I just wanted to share this magical feeling. When it first happened I felt confused and even a little sad that maybe education wasn’t the field for me anymore. But it still is. I just am free now to go easier on myself.
Stop caring about work in any meaningful way…who would have thought this was the solution? Sounds nihilistic but it’s been awesome. Maybe I’m even a better educator because of it.