Is it possible to be too good at your job? To have too many people feel they can count on you? To be good enough to handle the weight of the world according to everyone else, even when you know you're a mere human?
You see we're only human. But when everyone thinks they can count on you for everything all the time. It's easy to feel pulled under. It's easy to feel like you never get the chance to come up for air. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and under supported when you're the person everyone else goes to for support.
This isn't meant to be a bragging post. It's meant to remind you to thank the person who you rely on for support. To remember that the person you count on for everything is only human, and sometimes they need a break. Sometimes they want to be able to count on you. So be there for them, hold them up when they are slipping under.
They probably wont tell you any thing is wrong, that's not their role. They will probably say they are fine. Because they think they have to be, for you, for the team, for all the people that count on them. But I promise they aren't. They feel that weight every day. They feel your complaints, they feel the struggles of the team, they internalize all of the issues.
The burn out rate in my profession is extremely high. The speech at my graduation was that most people wouldn't be doing this in 5 years time. Here I am 7 years in and it is draining. But the drain has changed. I have gone from a drain of lack of financial support or access to materials in the classroom and lack of parent involvement. A drain of lack of safety in the classroom and community that I work in. I have moved to a drain of too many responsibilities that I didn't ask for. A drain of job descriptions being different for my department than for any other department in the school. A drain of adults not doing their job. A drain of herding cats. A drain of people who engage in micro aggression daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment