Teacher Tip Tuesday: Flowers Over Bricks
During this time of the school year, life often feels so heavy. As teachers, we are trying to balance so much in our professional lives that it often feels like there is no time to prioritize health or family. I’ve been reading so many teachers’ stories recently, describing their burnout and voicing their concerns that they won’t even be able to finish the school year. This feeling reminds me of the character, Louisa, in Disney’s Encanto. She wonders if she can live up to all the expectations and pressure others put on her. Will she be able to carry all the weight?
My Teacher Tip for you today is not a quick fix or an easy solution. It’s a mental picture I’ve used to try to navigate perspective during times when I faced what felt like insurmountable stressors. I call it: Bricks in a Backpack. (I’ve written about this image before, but I think it can be so powerful, so I wanted to include it as our teacher tip.)
Picking up bricks. How often do we do this? Find a useless brick. Pick it up. Place it in our backpacks. Then we find another and another. As if our lives aren’t already heavy enough. As if we’re not already worn from walking, let alone carrying. Why do we look for bricks: the conversations, the unmet expectations, the perfectionism, the interactions we just can’t let go of? Why do we choose to carry unnecessary weight? Along our way, we could be picking up flowers: the sweet moments in life.
This sounds simpler than it actually is, because we do have so many expectations placed on us daily. It feels isolating and helpless to try to keep our head above water. To make it even more complicated, we often blame ourselves or others for the weight we are carrying. We know there is a better way, but we feel too tired, confused, or stressed to open our backpacks and remove the weight from our shoulders. How do we change this pattern?
In our next reflection, we will explore this question in a deeper way. But for today, I invite you to sit with curiosity and reflection:
What areas do you feel compelled to hold onto tightly?
What expectations feel the heaviest to you right now?
When you find yourself clinging to a brick (a conversation, regret, or resentment), how does this make you feel physically and emotionally?
When you are unable to meet every expectation put on you, what is the pattern of inner dialogue?
