I’m a professional tutor, and I can’t be bothered today

I am so tired today. It’s muggy outside, and overcast. My mood is a bit down. Today’s just not a great day, and we all have days like this. Yeah, it sucks. Sometimes you want to get a lockdown on your day, and yet somehow the universe seems to conspire against you, whether it’s the weather, your energy levels, or external influences like people, business needs, or whatever.

It is perfectly reasonable for an adult to say to their friends, family, or colleagues that they’re having a bit of a down day, where things just aren’t going their way, where they just don’t have it. Sometimes you’re just done. This is perfectly okay, and we often tell the person to take a break, have a breather, get a cup of tea or coffee, you know, to relax. Yet when the children we teach say they’re not having a great day, we often try to force them into doing all the work and doing the same amount of work they would do if they were having a good day. So why are we harsher on our children than we are on the adults in our lives?

There seems to be this expectation in education that every single session must be hyper-optimized, that every single session must be at 150%, or otherwise, our children aren’t learning. But if I run my car at 150 miles an hour every single day for eight hours a day, I will be replacing parts within a week. Formula 1 cars are a perfect analogy. They’re pushed to the limit, and as a result, their parts are replaced often. We can’t run our cars at 150 miles an hour all the time, and we can’t expect our students to be working at 150% all the time either.

So, this post is your sign to look after yourself and slow down just a little bit. Whether you’re a fellow educator currently in the summer holiday, working at 100% again, or a parent taking a day off—write it off. That’s what I’m going to do after writing this blog post: replying to a couple of emails, and then I am done for the day. Today’s just not my day, and that’s perfectly fine because tomorrow will come around, and tomorrow might just be my day.