Finding Serenity in a Storm

The knob is turned up to 11 this week. (If you don't catch the reference, please read the Wikipedia article about it.) Tonight is my guest stint on the VoicEd Radio show "Mediacy". Denise Colby and I are replacing Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus with our regular host, Stephen Hurley. Tomorrow was supposed to be Track and Field, but it will probably have to be postponed; the day will still be filled with frantically finishing the school yearbook when not teaching. Wednesday is the Forest of Reading's Festival of Trees. Thursday will probably be our rain date Track and Field Day, followed immediately by our school's Family STEAM Night. Friday is our annual local literary celebration, the Silver Birch Quiz Bowl.

Usually, home is a sanctuary during this tumultuous time, but right now, this isn't true. In fact, this is a photo of my living room at the moment.

We are having our upstairs carpet replaced tomorrow, Tuesday May 14. This means that, although we were able to leave the major items of furniture in our bedrooms, we had to remove everything off the floor, any drawers (or things in drawers), and anything on top of furniture that would interfere with said furniture being moved around during the installation.

So where can we find relief from the chaos, especially when everything is in messy disarray at school and at home?

Tangent: To compound things, today I was asked to cover a kindergarten class because no supply teacher showed up. I could have devoted the entire blog post today to this dilemma. I don't envy any administrator that has to make this decision. What do you do when there's no occasional teacher to supervise a class? Choices aren't easy to make. Unfortunately, sometimes the option chosen means that specialist teachers get pulled. They are asked to collapse or close their program for the day, often at a moment's notice, to cover a regular classroom teacher's duty. In my school, this usually means either the teacher-librarian or the HSP / SERT / MART teacher takes the job. It can be a bit discouraging or demoralizing when this happens, because even though it is unintentional, the message given is that your program or classes (as a TL or special education teacher) don't matter as much as a "regular" classroom. I had to juggle my schedule to try and ensure that other staff members didn't miss their prep but the class was still operational. I lost my preps for today, but every student was taken care of in the best way we could. Big thanks to Jennifer Balido-Cadavez, our ECE, who ran the class like a well-oiled machine, and support staff members Stephanie Paterson and Joan D'Souza who filled in gaps willingly.

Back to the original question: Where can we find serenity in a storm?

The answer may be found inside ourselves. Our Student Wellness Leaders have a "Mindful Minute" every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday following afternoon recess. We listen to the pre-recorded guided meditation, where we close our eyes, concentrate on breathing, pause, reflect and relax. Stopping the roller coaster, albeit briefly, to address the stress, is a great strategy. As my friend Lisa Noble likes to remind me - breathe.

The answer can also be found in others. I came home today, ready to launch into all the tasks awaiting me. Hubby announced that he cancelled our regularly scheduled Cross Fit exercise class. Although exercise is a good stress-beater, he felt that we could use the extra hour plus to collect ourselves and not feel so rushed. I had to agree, and appreciated the reduced list of things to do. (Plus, carrying drawers up and down the stairs from the second floor to the living room was exercise enough for the day!) This past weekend, I went with Lisa Noble to attend Tim King's surprise 50th birthday party in Elora. We could have driven there and back in a day, but Lisa recommended that we stay overnight. Even though I missed my family a bit, I'm glad we did. I could enjoy libations, since Lisa was the designated driver, stay as late as we wanted, and on Sunday we spent a quiet hour back at Tim and Alanna's house chatting together before Lisa and I headed back to Toronto / Peterborough. (Don't worry, I made it in time for Mother's Day with my children and my own mother.)

So even though places are great for seeking sanctuary, sometimes when that isn't an option, turn to people to settle things down.