2 years off…

It's been nearly two years to the day since I've posted anything. I could make lots of excuses, if excuses were called for. To say that the nature of my current role, while interesting, while challenging, while incredibly rich and various, is busy would be an understatement of significant proportion. My Grandma told me that if I stayed at something long enough, it would eventually get easier. That holds true in some cases. I can, for example, throw together a pretty accomplished meal in 10 minutes before supper, without burning something or injuring myself, whereas before the odds were against me getting it done without breaking into a First-Aid box! But I am just finishing my 4th year of teaching, and I've got to say, whatever else it is, it isn't easier! The teaching part is always interesting and always challenging in a good way. It's the stuff that's going on around the edges just keeps getting more complex: assistant housemastering, coaching rugby, refereeing matches, parents’ meetings, marking, arranging Gifted and Talented events, directing plays, emails, teachers’ meetings, running clubs, prep duty, meetings with students, writing UCAS statements, inviting various visiting speakers, exam marking for external exam boards, organising and running trips, getting engaged (!), running half marathons, setting up a current affairs breakfast club, raising money for charity, completing a MA, running leaderships days and events, deciding that a breakfast club is too much of a commitment, backpacking around Africa, running mock-Oxbridge interviews, moving flats, attending various CPD events, weekend duty, chapel services, library visits, tutoring, emails. And then there's blogspot.com, with no posts for two years, which my [now] fiancé has been onto me about recently. One obvious and predictable dynamic about not writing is that with each day, week, month, YEAR that goes by in which I haven’t written, the subtle pressure grows that says that ‘the next one better be a good’un!’ which raises the bar, which creates performance anxiety, which leads to avoidance, which is where I’ve been for the last two years! So what I'm doing here is making a conscious effort to lower the bar. This is not going to be my most memorable post, but it's going to be the post that gets posted today. I've got a lot of things to talk about… So there, I’ve done it. I didn't really know where I was going, not really sure where I've been, don't know what's coming next, but that’s ok!