Hey Mama Monday: Mama, Let’s Eliminate Burnout
Whether you call it a mental health day, a break for scheduling, or a teacher professional development day … we all need a break every now and then. Don’t feel guilty about this. Every professional educator has breaks like these scheduled; in-home educators need the same.
There are many benefits of taking a break from teaching: you are able to reevaluate your progress, reconstruct your schedule, and reignite your passion. These are all worthy reasons for a break. Besides that, your students will be super excited to have a day off while you regroup, and you will avoid burnout.
But here’s where the rubber of my day meets the gravely road. Some days I feel so far behind at the very minute I step foot out of bed that I already feel burnout creeping up into my foggy brain. So, in order to find peace for my soul, I must take a break right out of bed. Yes, that’s me – taking a morning break from my morning before my morning even begins. Are you laughing yet? I know it’s not that funny when it is your reality. But it is the exact relief we desperately need. It’s what Jesus did and what He told His disciples to do. It’s our spiritual and physical and emotional health. We must come away to pray whether that is in the morning or the evening or all day in between. Let’s look at Jesus’ lifestyle of rest in between the overwhelming demands of meeting needs all day.
Jesus went away to pray, on a mountain to pray, while it was still dark, very early, or late in the day (Luke 11:1-2, Luke 5:16, John 17:1, Hebrews 5:7; Luke 21:37, Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:28, Mark 1:35). He spent time with His Father so He could hear His voice and know how to proceed with life here on earth. Here is one of my favorite responses of Jesus to the disciples after a demanding day:
“And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately” (Mark 6:30-32).
Jesus invited them to go to a quiet place and rest. Day or night, we should pull away and pray to our Father and listen to His Word. He invites us there. It is where we will find the strength to make it through the demands of another day. Moms with little ones, you can’t always get away to a quiet place, but your heart can become that quiet place as you focus on God’s Word. He gently leads those with young. This is how you will avoid burnout: pour it all out before your Father and cast your cares on Him. You can do this one more day!
Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extra-ordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness–and homeschooling–in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3, 4).
