"What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation." -Glenn Close

A note my dear teacher friend in Minnesota sent me that I think everyone (ESPECIALLY first year teachers, TFA and non-TFA) should read. Hannah, If we’re being honest here, this is the first time I’ve read your blog post, BUT, I’m very glad I did. And here’s why… I feel the same way. You are bored living in the Delta. I am bored living in St. Cloud. I feel there is no one here who is under the age of 30 and not married. My college roommate lives nearby, but she doesn’t like driving into town on the weekends. I drove out to see her a few times. Then I stopped. Since then, she’s seen me once, after work. She has yet to drive into town just to see me. I feel like I should make friends, but I spend 12 hours at school and I live alone. I tend to leave on the weekends so I can see people I know. So, I tell myself I don’t have time to make friends. I convince myself next semester will be easier. Maybe I’ll make friends then. As far as teaching goes, I’ve been barely keeping my head above w...

"same old, same old" I don't mean that in the "my life is so boring" way (even though sometimes I want to RUN FAR FAR AWAY FROM HERE BECAUSE I AM SO VERY VERY VERY BORED WITH MY SOCIAL LIFE BUT IT'S OKAY I'LL SURVIVE RIGHT TELL ME I WILL SURVIVE PLEASE OKAY THANK YOU). I mean it in the way that when someone asks me how my day was, my current response is literally always "SIGH. Same old, same old." Not "Oh, fine." Or "OH MY GOD GUESS WHAT RIDICULOUS THING HAPPENED TODAY." Just same old, same old. Like, okay, the same frustrating behaviors happen every day, sometimes the kids handle it better, sometimes I handle it better, sometimes I have zero patience and just lose my cool and think WHAT THE EFF AM I DOING HERE and sometimes I take a really calm breath and say "Let's think about our choices here." Sometimes I blame the students, sometimes I blame their environment, sometimes I blame the school, sometimes I ...