Day To Day

I feel like all I do is talk about school to people.  I mean, of course I talk about deeper stuff sometimes, but my day to day chitchat is all about school.  The kids I interacted with, the lessons I taught, the strategies I borrowed from my colleagues, and even the brats who made me question my profession.  That's what happens when we get older, isn't it?  We transition from talking about our friends and our classes and our hopes and dreams and end up talking about our jobs.  Our jobs, for many, become us.  We are identified by what we do.  And because we spend so much time doing them, they become a deeper part of us.  So far, I'm not a big fan of this change.

I feel like a broken record talking about my normal routine.  To outsiders, everyday is probably the same.  To those that live it, there are so many nuances that make up a typical workday but are hard to share with others.  Because of this, we eventually end up with a sort of dual life - those at work who witness a certain side of us, and those in the personal world, who have the pleasure of (most of the time) seeing a completely different side.  It's certainly possible to bring those two worlds together, but it definitely does not happen all the time.

And until it does, I'm sort of stuck.  Rehashing my day with those that may not fully understand or care makes me feel inadequate.  Sharing my personal side with fellow workers seems inappropriate.  It's really hard to find that middle ground.  But in the mean time, it's time to stay positive.  Who knows what it'll accomplish directly, but it just seems like a good idea.  As it always does...