Teaching and weightlifting, close cousins

I’ve been noticing lately that joy from the most meaningful things is often only felt in the afterglow.

It was a challenging week of managing student behaviour, with thirteen to eighteen year old students pushing me to the brink of patience and sanity.

The highs were very high and the lows were very low.

As I decompressed from the chaotic landslide of student interactions, I started to smile as the darkness receded and I could finally recall some of great moments from the week.

I find teaching reminds me a lot of fitness training. Like many things worth doing, the bliss and satisfaction only come to fruition after completion. Overcoming obstacles, and helping others, releases an endorphin filled reward.

Although I leave each day ‘forged in fire’, and stronger for the challenges provided, I am reflecting on how to gain more satisfaction while ‘doing’ as well as in the aftermath.

Twenty years of weight training has made me enjoy the struggle, but in the world of teaching the struggle continues to elicit a great deal of pain.

Lately I’ve been reflecting on what Eckhart Tolle would tell me, “...the present moment is all you ever have”, in order to start embracing the joy ‘in the struggle’ as well as ‘after the struggle’.

• Now that’s a peak ethos