Three Cheers for New Years

Christmas has come and gone (very quickly may I add!) and we are gearing up to bring in a New Year. One that will most likely bring new challenges, new exciting opportunities, and hopefully as the year turns from 2019 to 2020 we will be able to look back and say “That was a great year!”.

Every year I tentatively make a New Year’s Resolution and attempt to stick with it. Last year my resolution was to ‘get home from work earlier’ and ‘give myself more time to do the things I hadn’t had a chance to really do during my NQT year’. I have both succeeded and failed in these resolutions.

At the beginning of January 2018 I was eager to be leaving work between 5:30pm- 6pm every night and I was successful, I would be finshing up my marking and sorting out the next day by 5:45pm and I would go say goodbye, print off the last bits and be switching off my light to get in the car and go by 6. However, as the year drew on and the nights became brighter I found myself staying longer and having far more things to be getting done. It would be 6pm and I would still be sat at the table finshing off those last few bits- hence failing on my target. Despite this, I’m sure everyone I know would agree, the past year has been much better than my NQT year.

The second part of my resolution has been far more successful. At the weekends I now know I have the option to do other things other than work for school, I am able to work on a Saturday- getting ready for the coming week and getting other bits done- whilst my mum runs around doing the food shop, and then on Sunday I am free to do other things. Unless there is a big workload time that can sometimes occur during the year, e.g around report-writing or action planning, then this system usually works out great!

One of the ‘other things’ I am free to do is Trampolining. My one aim if all else failed last year was to get in touch with a trampoline club and get back into a sport I have loved ever since I can remember. Two of my coaches from when I was 4 until I was 18 (before I went off to Uni and joined their trampolining team) are still coaching and invited me back down to train with them. So here I am almost a year down the line, back into Trampolining, and most importantly competing new and excting routines and learning new moves. I am exceptionally happy to have acheived this part of my New Year’s Resolutions in 2018.

Now comes the difficult part. It is time to make new resolutions and this year I will be making three.

Get home earlier!

Yes I know… this one is exactly the same as last year’s. However, it is still relevant and therefore it’s staying. Basically this one is to remind me to stop procrastinating and get stuff done rather than getting that second cup of tea in 2 hours.

2. Start running again.

I enjoy going running but not necessarily in the way people think. I don’t actually like the thought of running, those 2, 3, 4 miles etc… But instead I love the time it gives you to think through your day, through the problems or worries that have been bothering you. Along with that, it’s just a great time to listen to music and be solitary for a bit if you aren’t out running with others. A bonus of running is you’re getting fitter and healthier whilst also looking after your mental health- what could be better?

3. Chill out and spend time with those who are closest.

It is very easy after work and on weekends to fill up that ‘spare time’ and give yourself no time to actually relax, and just catch up with what has been going on outside the bubble that is being a ‘teacher’. This Christmas, I have hidden my work laptop in my room and turned off my work emails on my phone and honestly it has been the best decision ever. In doing this I have been able to push away the fleeting thoughts that I need to get the action plan completed, or plan for next term and actually spend time with those who really matter- my family and friends. Also I haven’t fried, my already shattered brain more, meaning that I won’t be going back to school as tired if not more tired than I was when I left it for the Christmas holidays, yay! This coming year I will continue to tell myself, it is OK to have a break, and it is OK to just close the laptop down and go out, have a break; everything will get done and it will all be fine! Teaching is exhausting, and can be all-consuming if we let it be. So sometimes all we need is a kick to say, you’re doing fine but honestly this can wait until tomorrow, it’ll get done.

So there they are, the three resolutions I will endevour to keep over the next year and hopefully beyond. I realise that 1 and 3 actually in a way contradict each other slightly. I am a procrastinator but a worried one. I will sit in front of a laptop for hours having written so many versions of the same thing and worry that it is not yet good enough (a bit like this blog- I began this on 23rd December and it has been rewritten 3 times since then), or I will watch YouTube whilst ‘thinking’ about what I still need to do. However, when there is something bugging me that needs to be done, I won’t let it go until it is, and this is where I know I need to chill out, go for a run or just go and spend time with family and friends- Get out of the bubble.

2018 has been fun and I have learnt so much but I am now excited to see what 2019 brings.

What are your Resolutions? Did you keep your ones from last year?

Happy New Year!! See you in 2019!

SInead xxx

Side Note: Last year a brilliant actress, author and YouTuber, amongst other things, vlogged everyday during January and named it ‘Three Cheers for New Years’- hence the title of this blog. Go watch her and read her books, she’s great! Honestly :). x