Teacher Well-being in Walking to the Car at the End of the Day

Clocking the thoughts on the way to the car at the end of the day

I clocked one day that the walk to my car to start my journey home, was a barrage of thoughts and flash backs of all the things that I felt I had not done well during that day. If someone had videoed me on that walk, it wouldn’t have been a pretty picture – backpack on, physically and energetically weighing me down with the multitude of thoughts that I wasn’t doing a great job of teaching.

What I came to realise on that day was it did not have to be this way. I realised that actually there were other aspects of the day that I could focus on and from that point, I began to bring in appreciation.

I built fitness around this appreciation. Firstly, it needed to begin with feeling I had completed my day. I brought a ritual to tidy my desk before leaving. I began to love this routine of completion as it continues to become more meticulous, including things like exiting files, deleting emails, actually shutting the computer down, washing up my cup, drying it, putting it away and glancing back at the space I’ve set up for the following morning. 

This closure for the day, seemed to ensure that on my walk to the car, my brain wouldn’t fly to ‘all the things’ that I still needed to do, and instead I felt settled that I had completed what needed to be done until the time came, whether it be in one hour or the next day to re-engage with the next task to be tended to. 

This routine laid a foundation for my mind to become more settled, and as a result the thoughts on the walk to the car slowed down and became less racy and more open to letting the appreciation begin. In the beginning, I had to literally make myself consider all the wonderful things that had occurred in the day. It didn’t come naturally. But once I began to bring a focus to it, it was clear to see they are always there; despite how apparently wayward other moments might have been.

For instance, a catch up with someone in the toilet who you hadn’t seen for a while, a student smiling at you on the way to a class, noticing the birds sing or a significant and pretty cloud format in the sky, an aha moment for a student in class, a student who shared something with you that made you laugh, or a pull up you had to give a student that actually made a difference to their behaviour. 

Mostly, the appreciation I find that comes to mind as I walk to the car, is the difference I have made in the day and how simple those moments can be. 

As teachers, we make a profound difference to students and those we work alongside. It is a job to be cherished when we consider the impact we have on those we are with daily. Seeing and feeling the great value we offer in our role to many others is profoundly nurturing. 

We gain a deeper sense of this perhaps at the end of the academic year with a heart-felt comment in a ‘thank you’ card. But we can be the recipient of daily appreciation messages by giving ourselves permission to acknowledge and enjoy the great difference we make.