6.23: Writing -- When Writing Isn't Enough...

It was a bad day on Friday. Actually, it wasn't really bad, per say. I was just annoyed. People in my life were annoying and people at school were annoying and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

I've had a student teacher for weeks, and Friday was her last day all by herself. On Monday and Tuesday, we'll teach together, and then she's all done and I get my classes back. I'll also go back to teaching a full schedule, and although I've enjoyed my time off every day, I'm excited to be back with my kids. But these weeks that she's been teaching on her own, I've been sitting in the English staff room every day during each lunch period. I get work done and talk to people, but after a while, it's just too much for me.

So you know when you have those days? Maybe you do. Where you're just overwhelmed with feeling crabby and people are annoying and it's just too much all at once? Usually, I would sit and write on those days, but writing wasn't going to cut it on Friday. The only place I had to go to write was the place where everyone was talking. So I went to the next best place.

My friend Doug is our choir director, and I wandered into his choir class. It happened to be the choir that I had chaperoned on that trip a couple of months ago. He was directing, and he looked at me to see if I needed him for a quick message. I smiled and shook my head. Then I sat on the floor against the wall, leaned my head back and closed my eyes, and just listened.

This choir. They sing so beautifully. The music just flowed over me and through me. I let the voices take my anxiety away, and I just breathed in and out, in and out. Slowly, I started to feel better.

I sat in there for an hour. When class was over, I stood up and got a delicious hug from Doug (he's a master at hugging) and went back upstairs. I taught my final class and was fine. Then I got my kid, went to taekwondo, eventually took him over to my parents, and hung out with a friend for a while. Later, this couple that I liked a lot but had never hung out with invited me to go get drinks with them. So that was fun, too. The day ended up really well.

But unlike my usual coping strategy, this time, I used music instead of writing. It worked out well!

Go and read NGS's blog or you'll be sorry!