Dear Kristin:

Being organized is going to be crucial to manage a teachng job, a class at night, motherhood and everything else that is on your plate.

To manage anxiety: guided meditation, yoga, aerobic exercise (brisk walking/ swimming), relaxing music (during commute as well).

You can probably already start preparing for the teaching job: lesson plans, assertiveness plan… you can get maybe the roster of students you will have, prepare the computer programs you are going to use for grades and management; all that way before September…What grade will you be teaching? I was a teacher, middle and high school, and I may have experience to be able to help you further. Post again, let me know.

anita

Dear Kristin:

I can feel it, that you want to do a good job. To do a good job, you will need to get organized and be very, very… very patient and gentle with yourself. Beeing to attached to doing a good job, wanting to do a good job too intensely will stand in your way to doing a good job. I hope you have reasonable expectations with yourself. As a new teacher, not yet on the job, “good enough” job will be … good enough. It is almost impossible to do a good or great job from the very beginning. It is going to be tough. It is like going on a marathon, not a short run, take it easy on yourself so that you can last the marathon.

It is a long term/ marathon project, the teaching in itself. All the other things on your plate make for a marathon indeed. So relax, first and foremost, again and again. Be aware of your distress level and do what you need to do to calm yourself, take a moment, deep breathing, a hot cut of tea or a cold glass of water, a yoga like stretch during a break, again and again.

Organize, prepare and know that no matter how much you prepare, there will be difficulties, guaranteed. So prepare for that too, that there will be difficulties no matter how much you prepare.

4th graders may already be up to giving the new teacher a hard time (wish it wasn’t so)- it may not be so, but it very well may. So remember to be as calm as you can when interacting with the students. Do not assume you will get the respect you may deserve for being a teacher. Assert yourself with the students, when giving instructions, do so in a firm voice (never with a question mark like at the end of the instruction or in a vague, too polite kind of way), be specific and firm.

There is much more. Post anytime.

anita

Dear Kristin:

You stated above: ” there is a lot on my plate right now and I am overwhelmed. Any advice on easing the anxiety? ”

You are a young mother, working at an insurance company, needs to prepare for a coming teaching job, your first, still take classes until you are certified, have a long commute, not having time to exercise, etc. Indeed overwhelming. I noticed you started a thread about religion-for-comfort and that caused me concern about your level of your anxiety.

I think Guided Meditation that you can download from the internet can do wonders for you, to start the day with one, do one in the middle of the day and/ or at the end.

Mindfulness exercises that you can do while driving can also help. When you drive, slow down your thinking and focus on the feel of your hands on the wheel. Such a simple switch can do wonders. Your attention moves to your hands on the wheel and you get a break that way. Any automatic task you do during the day can be an opportunity to practice mindfulness. When you wash dishes, switch from thinking to the feel of the water and soap on your hands, or the sound of the water.

The overthinking we do when anxious is aimed at finding a solution to our distress, but it fails as this overthinking creates a fog and we can’t think clearly. When you switch from thinking to sensing with one of the five senses (sight, sound, touch most often), you give the overthinking brain a break, the fogs dissipates and clears up. Then you can think effectively.

Please let me know if this works for you.

anita

Kristin- first, congratulations on your new career! That is wonderful! I know it is an exciting time and also a stressful one. Anita has given some great advise about getting organized and using meditation to lessen the anxiety.

Staying on top of the anxiety is key. A good way to gauge stress levels is to use the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. You can google it, add up your stress and see where you stand. This has made a difference in my life and I started a meditation practice as a result. I dont worry to much about meditating perfectly and chanting and things like that- I just sit comfortably, focus on my breath, allow myself to drift and then gently pull myself back in without judgement. Being kind to myself in this practice has yielded phenomenal results.

One thing I would recommend to help reduce stress is to go into what I call “The Worry Womb”. What that means is to simply give yourself 15-20 minutes a day to focus solely on your worries. Write them out, find out how likely they are to come to fruition and ask yourself what would be the worst possible outcome if they did. The trick is this- during this time (and you can go longer than 20 minutes if needed but try not to go too long), your focus is solely on your worries. But that means that the rest of the day- you have to let them go, knowing you will dedicate time to them later. This will prevent you from ruminating on stressors, which in itself lessens anxiety and stress. You’ll find yourself worrying less and letting go of things that are not really worth worrying about. You will also find that many, if not most of the things we tend to worry about do not produce an outcome nearly as catastrophic as we fear. The sum of all of this is less stress and anxiety, more productive worry sessions and a clearer mind. If you give it a try, let me know how it works! Best wishes and congratulations again on your new career!

Hi there! I am so glad you posted this, because I would like to switch careers too and am looking for advice. My life long calling is to be a writer and editor and I’d like to invite you to look over my Strengths Report to see if you have any helpful input. I don’t expect you to have an editing job or even know of one, but I am looking. It isn’t my resume (I have one already), it is just a report on my Strengths and Capabilities.
Background Summary:
Animated team leader… compassionate creator…strong voice…writer …courageous…enthusiastic…efficient editor…focused facilitated….graceful under pressure

Evidence of Effectiveness:
Detail Oriented and Curious Learner:
• Selected for an elite research program Euroscholars in College from 2010-2012
• Won a full scholarship to live in Germany from 2007-2008 from Congress Bundestag
• Invited to study and research at Ruprecht Karl’s University in Heidelberg from 2011-2012
• Appointed the Data Point Person for GRAVITY Olympia in 2015-Present
• Awarded a full scholarship to study Spanish in Costa Rica with the Educational Service District in taking place in July through August 2016
Communication and Creativity:
• Won the 2013 Theodore and Phyllis Barbara Award for Excellence in Comparative Literature at Clark University
• Several Articles Published since 2014
• Won prizes on Instagram from Riverhead Books 2015 and Little Brown and co in 2014, and Hobo International in 2014
• Consulted for freelance editing in 2015 and 2016
• Columnist for Sivana Blog will be published this summer in 2016
Organized:
• Organized a speaker’s bureau in 2012 for nonprofit Jewish World Watch
• Contact over 150 students per week at GRAVITY 2014-Present
• Organized successful extracurricular activities for GRAVITY in 2015

Courses Completed
– Kim Lincoln’s Lataif Training September 2015-Present
– Cathy River’s Human Design Introduction November 15th, 2015
– Cathy River’s Change Your Game Workshop December 9th, 2015
– Landmark Forum January 14-19th 2016
– Dependable Strength’s Workshop June 24-25th 2016

Work History:
– Instructional Assistant, Gravity High School –Olympia, WA July 2014 – Present
– Youth Mentor, Clark University – Worcester, MA September 2009 – January, 2013
– Lipper Intern, Museum of Jewish Heritage –New York, NY January 2013- June 2013
– Outreach and Communication Intern, Jewish World Watch – Encino, CA June 2012 – August 2012
– Press Intern, Sammlung Prinzhorn Museum – Heidelberg, Germany October 2011 – January 2012
– Cultural Ambassador, Saint Martin’s University – Lacey, WA June – August, 2008 & 2010

Thank you!
Anna