One of the most puzzling things as a amateur teacher or educator in general is how to maintain balance in your life when you have this job that requires you to be at 100% all the time. After 7 years I think I finally have the hang of a few things that allow me to maintain balance. The number one game changer for me was fixing my diet.
Breakfast is essential
My first year teaching I noticed my energy in the morning was low regardless of how much coffee I had or how early I went to sleep. I figured out the easiest was to start my morning right
was to make myself a simple meal in the morning that not only put me in the right state of mind , but also gave me energy. Every morning before work I make sure to either warm up my breakfast before I leave the house or pack something I can make in the teachers lounge #cerealislife . I don't do any work until I have completed my breakfast. This has made me more productive and helps set a routine for the day. In order to do this I have to grocery shop on the weekend and be intentional about my choices. My go to quick meals are : cereal , oatmeal, and even Egos ( we have a toaster in our tank!) .
Once I mastered the art of breakfast and trust me it was not an easy task to avoid the McDonalds line in the morning I moved to meal prepping for the rest of my meals.
Meal Prepping Momma
I know there are endless blogs and sites that make meal prepping seem like an overly complicated thing that takes lots of planning so it can seem overwhelming. I have simplified my meal prepping process in order to do what is best for my belly and my budget. On the weekend I look though my local grocery store ads and see what meat is on sale and build out my meals from there. For example, pre-seasoned barbecue chicken thighs were on sale last week so one of my meals was barbecue drumsticks, corn on the cob, and fries. I also look through some of my favorite cookbooks to pick a meal that I am really excited about. The books I am loving right now are Chrissy Teigen's Hungry for More and Hannah Brofman's Do What Feels Good. Once I picked a meal that I love and a meal that is on sale I write my grocery list in my notes app on my iPhone. I've done almost every system for keeping an effective grocery list and my phone is the
best option for me because I always have it with me and I can edit it on the fly.
Another feature I love is that I can share the list with anyone and they can add anything for me that I forget. Finally, I take the whole haul home and prep for at least 3 days. When I first started I tried to prep for the whole week, but I found out I get sick of my prep after about three days.
Get in the gym
I know this is gonna sound super clique , but the only thing that has really kept me consistent on my health journey has been the reintegration of the gym into my daily routine. I struggled with consistency in the beginning so I got a personal trainer. I worked with her for about a year until the gym became second nature to me. Now I use an app on my phone called Fitbod that creates workouts for me based on my fatigued muscles. It is a paid app, but I think it is worth the money to take the guess work out of going to they gym and it reminds me when I need to get my butt back in the gym after recovery.
I am making strides towards being the healthiest , happiest me possible so hopefully what I shared can help you a bit on your journey as well!
* I am an Amazon affiliate so there are affiliate links in this blog*