Day 360 - Stress

I have come across many references to teacher stress in the last year but what kind of stress have I personally experienced and how does it compare to corporate stress?

Picking up a completely new career at the age of 41 which involves a massive pay cut and moving countries has certainly been stressful but on the whole it has been 'good' stress. This is something I have chosen to do and having done so, I have greeted the majority of challenges head on rather than resisted them being imposed on me. That makes a big difference.

I have certainly not experienced this level of physical fatigue over such an extended period. When you are in the classroom teaching, there is no 'out' clause that allows you to disappear into the staff room and recharge. As such, 7 weeks of constant teaching is much like presenting marketing plans 3 or 4 times a day, 5 days a week...with an audience that isn't paid to be there! I have certainly had periods of fatigue before, many induced by too many long distance flights and alcohol enhanced late nights, but never for more than 1 or 2 weeks and always with the get out clause of spending a day in my office with the door closed.

The bigger, most appreciated difference is that I have not had to deal with any build up of the mental (and emotional) stress that I had to wrestle with in the past 10 years. Most of it was self-induced but the level at which I was operating meant that there was no escape from it day to day, year to year. It started when we moved to Amsterdam and never really left until I walked away. There were moments that I would prefer to forget, like sitting alone in a hotel room in New York the day before a planning meeting, crumbling under the responsibility I had been given (and asked for).

The pressures are very transient in teaching. I certainly get worked up before each lesson and if I fail to plan the night before a 5 lesson day, I have been known to wake up in a cold sweat. However, the minute the bell goes, the stress disappears. If I have a good lesson, it feels great and I believe I can be a great teacher. If I have a bad lesson, I try and make it better the next time without agonising over it...the most I will teach one class is 3 hours a week, so how much damage can I be doing with the odd stinker?!