Current Issues

This week’s journal entry:

Make a list of issues that you’ve had to deal with lately (at least three). These issues can be personal or within your family and friends. What are the issues and have they been resolved? If they’ve been resolved, how was that done?

By Laura Black

            I felt this was the perfect journal for this week. It’s been a month since I last posted a journal for the week, and I apologize for that. This journal entry should explain the delay a bit.

            I do have issues I’m currently dealing with. My main issue as of late is time management in general. My smaller issues then all stem from that main one. I know this is something most people struggle with, and it’s often so hard to find balance in life. Here’s my current struggle:

            Let’s start with work because it all stems from there. Work tends to consume most American’s, and that in itself is sad to me. However, in order to live and pay my bills, I must work. I’m not a lucky millionaire, and until that happens (not likely), I will have to continue to work. I do, for the most part, love my job, but like any job, there are always cons.

            For me, I love that I get to help others and teach my students how to write and improve their writing skills. There will always be a need for writing, so that’s a good thing for me with job security. However, the downfall for me is it’s nearly impossible to land a full-time position as an English Instructor at any college/university. Because of this, I am a part-time instructor teaching at three different colleges.

            That doesn’t sound too bad to most, but when you break it down, it’s oftentimes overwhelming and more work than one possibly has time for. I am currently teaching seven English classes at two different colleges. The third college I teach at is, thankfully for me, low on their numbers. I am hoping to get word this week that the late fall class will not run. I say hoping because I honestly don’t know how I would have time for one more class this semester. I should mention that a full-time instructor never teaches more than five classes during the fall and spring semesters.

            I currently have 160 students over the seven classes. Did I mention I teach English? Yeah, so on any given week, I have essays that are due. This week alone I received 44 letters and 68 essays to grade. I don’t even have enough time in the week to grade all this work. I am receiving 46 more essays this week, and I haven’t even finished, or come close to finishing, all the work I received this week.

            None of this grading includes lesson planning, grading other small in-class assignments and journal entries, and teaching the actual classes. Each of these activities takes up more of my time as well. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize my job never ends when I finish teaching my classes. That’s only the start of it. I am almost always working. I teach Monday through Thursday, and I grade on most weekends. I also grade during the week when I get home from school. On most school days, I come home, take a quick break, then I’m back on the computer grading or doing something related to school.

            Because of all this time spent on work, I always feel like I never have time for anything else. I have a hard time balancing out everything. I get so wrapped up in my work, and I tend not to make time for anything else. I start eating poorly, stop working out, and have almost no time to myself let alone time for others. I am constantly tired, and I find myself crabby and irritable.

            To torture myself more this semester, I am also taking a class as well. Although I love teaching writing, it’s hard to make a steady living when you don’t know from semester to semester how many classes you’ll be given to teach. Remember, I said how hard it is to land a full-time position. Well, that’s definitely my struggle. Because of this, I decided I needed to start working on another plan.

            I am working on getting certified to teach yoga. There are many reasons why I’ve decided to do this. First of all, I love yoga. I have always struggled with relaxing, and yoga works for me. It’s also a great way to stay in shape, which I definitely need in my life. Yoga can be so beneficial to so many people, and I want to be there to help others and myself find the benefits and make yoga work for them. It’s also another way I can still help people and teach. As I said before, I love teaching writing, but I honestly don’t know how much longer I can continue to teach so many classes with all the grading it entails.

            Yoga is also a way for me to try and fix the lack of balance in my life. I want to work out and make that a permanent part of my life. With this decision, I needed to make a plan to take one class per semester for the next six semesters in order to make the yoga certification a reality. I am now in the third semester, so I’m halfway done. However, this semester has been the most challenging.

            My struggle has been to teach my seven classes and grade all the work as well as study for the biomechanics class I’m taking for the certification. I am constantly doing something school-related whether it’s my actual job or the class I’m taking. I have no time for myself. I also have to make sure I keep up with everything at home: laundry, dishes, clean house, taking care of the dog, feeding child, etc. I am not eating right, and I have barely worked out or practiced my yoga since the semester started in mid-August.

            I have struggled with balancing it all out, and I honestly don’t know how to balance it out right now. I am going to try and make myself eat better and start practicing yoga again, but it will be hard to stick to. It’s always easier to eat something quick, and I’m always too tired to do yoga. Or, when I do make time for yoga, I’m constantly thinking about all the work I should be doing.

            All of this brings me to my struggle of not having time to write a journal in over a month. As I write this now, I’m thinking about all the work I still need to tackle tonight; however, I have forced myself to keep writing this journal entry because I know I need to make some time to do things I enjoy and take a break from all the grading.

            There is, of course, an end in sight. I am done with this crazy schedule in mid-December. Although I don’t know my spring schedule yet, it’s usually not as full as fall. Until then, I need to keep my eye on the prize. Once I finish the yoga certification, I should be able to cut down on teaching so many English classes and balance it out with teaching some yoga classes instead. Although my issues are not currently resolved, there is a goal to strive for, and that’s what keeps me plugging along each day. Tired or not, I will keep on keeping on.

            What about you? What are your current issues?