Love Letter from Dr. Jean Clinton
Dear educators,
With love,
As a mother of five kids, a grandmother to five wonderful grandkids and the daughter and sister of teachers, I want to wrap my arms around you and tell you how much I respect and appreciate you. You’re not alone. You are valued. You are loved!!
While some have the luxury of clocking-out of their work life at the end of the day, that’s rarely a reality for you, especially these days. The learning you carefully crafted months, weeks or days (sometimes hours) ago has to be scrapped and reworked to meet your students’ needs in the moment. Sometimes, that means taking over an hour to check-in with each student, to be their listening ear and caring adult – you’ll notice those moments are what get the cameras to start turning on and the chat to become as lively as you remember your classroom to be.
“Why am I so fatigued all the time?” As a Clinical Psychiatrist, I want to say that you’re fatigued for good reason. Beyond having to redesign learning each day, and fearing for your and your students’ safety – you’re also human. You’re juggling the needs and worries of your own children, dependents, partners and family members. All this, is more than emotionally taxing, it’s an energy magnet that exhausts your whole being – the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional. So, be kind to yourself and take time to just breathe.
Please, take care of yourself. Reconnect with the things and people that recharge you. Share and truly take in the messages of love and kindness because they nourish your brain with great chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. If you only have a minute, really focus on that minute. Reposition yourself at the top of the priority list.
There are brighter times ahead and I am hopeful for the future. The human species has a dogged ability to survive through major challenges. We will get through this together. Know you are appreciated.
Dr. Jean Clinton