🌿 Your Tuesday Email: Release the Guilt

Hello Reader!

You did enough. Even when it didn't feel like enough.

There is a particular kind of guilt that lives in educators at the end of the school year.

It isn't dramatic, but it quietly narrates everything you didn't do. We will call it mild rumination.

The student you didn't reach. The unit you didn't finish. The colleague you meant to check on. The parent email you wrote three times in your head and never sent.

Most educators carry this list into summer without ever questioning whether it belongs to them. It’s time to acknowledge it and let it go (I think we’ve talked about letting go before!)

Where the Guilt Comes From

End-of-year guilt isn't a sign of failure, it's often a sign of care.

You feel it because you had expectations for everyone around you, including yourself and the work you do. You feel it because you cared more than the system was designed to hold. You feel it because teaching is a profession that will always give you more to do than any human being could reasonably accomplish in a given year.

It’s not a personal flaw, but maybe a systemic one.

But the guilt doesn't know the difference between I fell short because I didn't try and I fell short because I'm human in an impossible role. It lands the same way regardless. And if you let it, it will follow you straight through summer and greet you again in September.

A Reframe Worth Practicing

Instead of asking What didn't I do?, ask yourself these questions instead:

What did I show up for, even when it was hard?
What student is better off this year because I was in that room?
What did I do that no one noticed, and that I deserve to acknowledge?

You don't have to be perfect to have done enough! In fact, we are anti-perfection over here! What mistakes did you make and learn from?

Releasing Guilt Isn't Excusing Yourself

If something genuinely went wrong this year, you're allowed to learn from it. That's different from punishing yourself with it.

Learning says: Next time, I'd do this differently. Guilt says: I should have done it right the first time, and the fact that I didn't means something about who I am.

The first one makes you a better educator. The second one just depletes you for the next year.

Release the guilt. Not by pretending it isn't there, but by looking at it clearly enough to see what's yours to carry and what you're allowed to put down. This isn't about bypassing accountability, but is about letting your mind rest and move on.

Podcast:

This week: Ep 113 - How We Change the Conditions Matters - Part 2 of Effective Learning Environments with Dan! A classroom can feel like a pressure cooker or it can feel like a place where learning grows. Dan translates research on effective learning environments into a simple metaphor you can actually remember when the day gets loud: tend the classroom like a garden.
Next week: Ep 114 - There are good things are about teaching! with Christine and Tammy. This is our last full length episode for Season 6!
Last week: Ep 112 - Conditions, Not Programs Make a Better Learning Environment Part 1 with Dr. Dan Keller

Listen to the pod on all the platforms like Apple, Spotify, iHeart Radio and YouTube. Now you can follow us on Instagram.

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