Power through with…reframing

<p>We’ve all had moments this school year when making it to summer felt impossible. You might even be feeling that way right now: like your job has just taken everything out of you, and you have nothing left to give. <br />  <br /> Being in that headspace is very normal, and it’s fine to allow yourself to feel exhausted and overwhelmed. You don’t have to talk yourself out of your feelings, ignore what your body is telling you, and push through no matter what.<br />  <br /> (There’s a difference, after all, between pushing through and powering through. Pushing through, at least to me, means doing it regardless of how you feel and just get it done with no regard to the outcome. I see powering through as tapping into the source of your energy and motivation to see things through with strength. We want to power through, not push through.)<br />  <br /> <strong>The determination to power through comes partially from reminding yourself that the way things are now is temporary. No circumstances stay the same forever.</strong><br />  <br /> I guarantee that you will not be dealing with this exact same set of problems in the fall — your workload will change, your students will change, and YOU will change. <br />  <br /> Some of it will be for the better and a few things will change for the worse, but it will be DIFFERENT. You will not feel exactly like this every day for the rest of your teaching career.<br />  <br /> Recognizing the temporary nature of our problems is a technique I learned when studying Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The most influential CBT strategy for me has been learning to recognize my own distortions in thinking that create problems, and then reevaluate them in light of reality.<br />  <br /> (I’ve actually written an entire book about this, called <em>Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching</em>. If you want to do a deeper dive into what I’m about to share, check that out.)<br />  <br /> <strong>A pessimistic viewpoint is that problems are permanent, pervasive, and powerless. </str