Personal Stress
I feel that I have more personal stress then stress from work. However once I'm in front of my students all of my stress seems to go away.
Same with me, Corey!! I have a ton of outside stress stemming from kids and life, yet once I'm in front of my students, I feel at ease and happy.
I, also, enjoy my job so much that personal stress seems to go away when i'm teaching. However, when my stress comes from a particularly difficult class i try not to let it bleed into my personal affairs. although difficult at times, i make an effort to maintain balance in my work and personal life by keeping the stresses of those two things separate.
I feel the same way but the stress dosent go away. It is being replaced by the rigors of work. You get bus and your mind just moves to something else at the time. I often find myself going back tot the personal stress shortly after work is over. Plus, at the end of the day there may be added work stress as well. You must find a way to cope with them both.
Owena, I am glad to hear that you got some early guidance. I hope this showed you the importance of teaching your students great time and stress management skills as you can. Some will take their learnings and use them the rest of their lives.
Dr. Melissa Read
I remember when I was in school, my instructor gave us examples of how we can try to eliminate mixing our personal life with our professional life. It doesn't always work, but it does help me.
I am similar, Kizmit. Think about the definition of stress from MaxK. The difference between our goals and our capabilities. I personally feel very competent as a teacher and often reach my goals of high grades and retention. You are probably the same way.
But why worry about personal life stressors when your are experiencing times of stress-free personal effectiveness? You can't work on them while teaching after all.
I can agree. You almost "turn off" the outside stresses once you are in front of the class because the content, thoughts and ideas that must be relayed to the students, doesnt allow room for the peripheral situations; these are left outside the door of the classroom.
It is always a balancing act. When at work I worry about a family member that needs more attention than I am able to give. At home I think of the tings that need to be done to maintain my certifications for my job. Allowing equal time for both and not giving in to one for the other has been helpful.
Everyday i tell my students not to come to class with their personal stress so as an instructor i take the same advice
I don't think that your personal stress goes away, I think your focus is just elsewhere. Once you remove yourself from the work environment, all those things that was crowding your mind, come back. I think its important that we address our personal stressors and not throw ourselves into work. Eventually, the personal stressors will begin to spill over into work and it will show in your behavior, work, or both.
I believe also that most of my stress is related to my personal life. Its build up is greatest during my morning drive to work thinking about everything. I also completely forget about it as soon as I step into the classroom.
