I never knew, sorry!

I was reflecting this past week on how I feel lighter emotionally and mentally. I was thinking about the things that have stressed me out for the past few months and realized that basketball really put a load on me. I didn't really realize that I was as stressed out as I was. It's interesting to think about how in the moment you don't realize how this stress can effect really everything else you're working on.

For instance, I am sure my social and professional interactions were different because I always felt like I was busy or should be busy doing something else. My sleeping patterns have been remarkably better since the season is over, no more waking up in the night. Instead I enjoy an 8 hour pass out each night, which has reinvigorated me for the daytime. This has allowed me to be less stressed during the school day and I have relaxed a lot around my students and around my work. This I think directly influences my students reactions too, as they are having fun in my class too (sometimes!).

All of my stress is not gone obviously, but it helps me to understand myself a little better and to understand the people around me a little bit. Teach for America does a great job hiring people for this job, but I can also see that sometimes the quirks and crazy actions TFAers' take sometimes might be because of the enormous amount of stress we are under or put ourselves under. TFA does a great job of hiring people who are self-starters but also people who do not like to fail and take great pride in their student's achievement. As a result, I think some of the people (myself included) probably develop personality traits or expose ones that are perhaps not some of their prouder details.

This is great though, to have that experience and learn these things about yourself. I feel like it's better to have those experiences and work through them -- preparing for the next go around. There are many things that I will be changing next year to get a better classroom, a better basketball team, a better lifestyle, but this is all because I worked through it this year.