I wrote a post about two years ago called “Life is a Balancing Act” (read it here). I feel like that is even more me now. I have so much going on in my life that it can feel overwhelming.

I think for a bit there, I got my priorities out of order. I’m holding onto school so much that I don’t have time for much else. And don’t get me wrong. School is important, especially right now for me. I’m in my last semester as a student. Next semester I will be student teaching. All my practice and preparation will culminate and show me if I’m ready to be a teacher or if there are still things I can improve on.

The past few weeks have been absolute chaos for me. I started my first practicum rotation 2 weeks ago (I’m in my third week now). For those of you that are not in education, practicum is basically the stepping-stone to student teaching. I spend 4 weeks each in a middle and high school for two hours every day. In this first 4 weeks, I’m in two classes of 6th graders. (Let me tell you, they are nuts). And then two days of the week, once I get done with practicum, I have to go back to campus to office hours for my job as a Teaching Assistant. And then I usually have to work at least one of those two nights, which doesn’t give me a whole lot of time to decompress before I go to work for four hours. Then by the time I get off work, I have to eat dinner and do any homework for the next day.

Another factor contributing to the stress is my weekends. If I don’t have to work, I like to relax Friday night, go grocery shopping and run other errands on Saturday, and do homework and meal prep on Sunday. Well, I haven’t fully been able to do that the past couple of weekends. There have been other circumstances that have come up, including having to work or having plans that require me to drive out of town.

I almost hate that fall break is coming up soon. I can’t really get myself back into a routine before the break. I feel like I’m out of sync with myself. I need to get back into my routine and break myself out of this rut that I am digging.

I think the biggest way for me to get out of this rut is to pull myself out through hard work and dedication. I’ve got a list of things I want to do this week, some of which have been sitting on my to-do list for a while. I think if I can get all of them done, I think I can feel “in control” again. I put that in quotes because I don’t really feel like my life is spiraling out of control. Realistically, I just need to motivate myself to get stuff done and be on track or ahead.

Getting out of a rut is hard. But you can do it! You’ve survived everything up to this point, and you’re going to survive a lot more. When you look back, you won’t see the rut you made but the distance you have traveled. You’re gonna get through this and you’re definitely not alone. You and me, we’ll get through this together!