In college, I did not appreciate, or even consider, the amount of time off that one would get when entering the workplace. I have worked in various industries in various jobs such as being a graphic designer for a publishing company to being an administrative assistant to owning my own business and now working as a school counselor. Of all those jobs, I appreciate my time off working in education more than anything else about the job. I mean, I love working with adolescents, but sometimes they can wipe you out! And to not have to worry about going to work the day after a holiday makes life so much easier sometimes.

In those other jobs, you also didn’t get much time to recover from when you are burned out. For example, I am really struggling during the day with how much problem solving I’ve had to do and trauma I’ve had to hold the past 2 weeks. Add in the winter solstice and I am tired. In previous jobs, I wouldn’t get the time to recover from that or I would have to use my few personal days to recharge. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I have 16 days to reset my brain, my attitude and my body for the next semester.

I will admit that those previous jobs that didn’t give me much PTO also didn’t give me a lot of emotional baggage to carry. I could go in, do my job and go home without being burdened by content of my work. That is definitely one of the pitfalls of education that others don’t recognize. Yes, we get these awesome breaks, but educators also pour their heart and soul into their students – at least the good ones do anyway. Thus, a good break from work is necessary to show up a better person for the kids the next time we walk into the school!