Make It Better

I can't just wallow in self-pity.  Well, I guess I could, but it's like not taking a shower for a week- eventually you get sick of yourself.  I let it go a night and decided to do something constructive instead of complaining about a situation where I do not have a lot of control.

I made the day good with my kids and then wrote an email to my boss documenting the things that were said in the meeting. I feel better knowing that my concerns and the things that were said in the meeting are written down and I can prove that they happened through more than the hand-written meeting notes that I will never have access to again.  Several of my many wise teacher friends told me that if I do not document something, then it's my word against someone else's and I would do well to document, document, document.  I think I did a good job.

The other thing that helps more is not concentrating on the negative and thinking of some sort of good I can do in the world.  One of our teachers is brand new. She has never taught before and I think if I were in her shoes, I'd be pretty freaked out.  She's doing the best she can and had no air conditioning for the first month.  That's right, no AC during this hot, hot summer with 6th graders! Ugh! Poor gal! So I wrote her a little certificate for being a Super Teacher and slipped it in her inbox. It's nice to get an "Atta Girl" once in awhile and it made me feel better to say something nice to someone.

Unfortunately for me, this morning I woke up with a really tight chest and a few asthma attacks.  I called in to work and went back to bed.  I've been sleeping most of the day and can't breathe well.  My dear, dear friend Charlotte brought me over her nebulizer and I am still shaking from using it. It's like a legal electric bong. I don't enjoy taking medicine.  But I can breathe and feel better, even if I had to resort to steroids.  There's Charlotte again, pulling my butt out of the fire.

Tomorrow will be better. I will get back to work and it will be Friday and I will have two more days off to recover.  And it will keep getting better- I will keep making it better- through thoughtful reflection and not through reaction.  That's my new mantra today.  And now my shaking hands and I are going back to bed.