Balancing Out Stress From Work

I know that I've been less than faithful with my posting schedule, but everything is a little hectic at the moment.

School work is picking up, I'm starting to have more homework to do and more things to memorize; and on top of that I have my job and report cards to write.

Many people are confused when I say that I have report cards to write, but I do them for the swimming lesson classes I teach.

For the term I'm working, there's a total of 10 weeks, therefore 10 classes. By around the 7th or 8th week, we start to write report cards for the kids in the classes, hand them in to the looked over for week 9 and then hand them out on week 10.

I thought that it would be a breeze, but I was very wrong.

I have many classes with little kids and I can't say that many of them are passing.

They all have the same main problem which is they can't float.

While writing report cards, I can't wright the same thing in them because of they're friends within classes and parents compare report cards, that doesn't reflect too well on myself.

There's only oh so many ways you can word "Remember to squeeze your bum and to look up at the ceiling to help you float!"

Personalizing every single report cards wasn't the issue, it was the phrasing.

However I have managed to get almost all of them done, I believe that I have completed around 65 report cards and only have 10 more.

I didn't realize that I taught so many kids.

As you could imaging, 65 report cards with 10 more to go, schoolwork and general life events have made it difficult for me to write.

My Sunday evening was spent at the dining room table, report cards and worksheets all around me.

I love blogging, it's something that I want to do seriously when I'm older, but at the moment other things such as work and school will have to come first.

Admittedly, I've been feeling stressed because of the report cards.

I honestly wondered if teaching and writing a total of 75 report cards was worth it when I could make sandwiches or pour coffee into a cup for the same amount of money.

Then I realized that it was.

It's such a great feeling when a kid gets something right after weeks of working on it and you can pass them to the next level.

Writing so many report cards is worst is because you get to know these kids over the span of 10 weeks and you get to know their personalities and some of them you grow to like.

One father asked if I would have his daughter next term and I honestly hope so because even though she didn't cover all of the skills, she was always smiling and having fun and that's what makes my job great.

There's always going to be a stressful factor whether it's report cards, the environment you work in, the location, the people, the coworkers; but if there's something to balance out that stress, then you know it's worth it.

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Extra Shifts

When I started working at the pool, I subbed for many people thinking I was getting favours in for myself.

Today I realized that I wasn't.

I've been sick for at least half the week with a bad cold and a cough that won't go away.

There's a Facebook group for my work and you can post in it whenever you need to communicate with everyone on staff (for example: lost item in the staff room, sub needed, etc.).

Late last night (Halloween night), I posted in the group that I would really appreciate a sub teacher for today because I'm still sick.

I knew my chances were slim of finding a sub because it's Halloween night and let's be honest, the majority of staff is of age and were all at parties and drinking.

I wasn't too concerned about the Facebook post though because I subbed for so many people that I thought that at least one person would be able to do it for me.

Not a single person could take it.

At first I thought how many late notice shifts I've took for other people and how I thought one of them would've covered this shift for me, but then I realized something.

They don't owe me anything.

Of course a few people have directly asked me to take their shift, but they were never forcing me to take their shift.

Whenever someone else posted in the Facebook chat and I would say that I'm available, I'm not the only one in the Facebook chat and I don't have to say yes to taking the shift.

I thought I was doing it to get favours for myself for later, but in all honesty, I would be a sub, I got paid the money and that was that.

There's nothing more to say to that because I'm getting paid for their schedule.

I'm not subbing for later favours, I do it for myself to get money.

There's nothing with wanting to make money, but you can't expect to make money and get the days off that you want.

I went in today and it wasn't the greatest time, but it had to be done.

No one would sub for me but I can't hold anyone against that because it's their choice.

They don't owe me anything for covering their shift and getting paid for their shift.

Don't swamp yourself with someone's else's shift because if it's an absolute emergency, then the supervisors will get even more involved.

If you want the money, go ahead and pick up an extra shift; but if not, don't feel the need to take it.


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Balancing The Days

The most common example of balance in the world is Yin and Yang.

They say that there's the good in life, the bad in life, the bad in the good and the good in the bad; and that's said to be the balance of life.

I got a first hand experience this weekend of how the bad and the good will balance each other out.

I work both Saturday and Sunday mornings as a swim teacher.

Saturday was rather rough, but today was good.

First off, I can't catch little kids that jump in the water because of my thumb/wrist (I was giving my grandmother's dog a bath and I slipped intothe tub) and I was told that someone would be in the water with me at all times in case two of them jump at the same time (because that happens quite often), so I was feeling relieved about that.

Upon arriving to the pool on Saturday I realized that the only person that would be in the water with me would be a practice teacher.

I'm fine with that, but the practice teachers move around and I wasn't guaranteed someone there with me when I knew I needed them, so I borrowed one from someone else.

The practice teacher I stole from a coworker was a guy, probably had a head on me but he's sort of lanky and I thought it was going to be fine.

He came to the first class with me and one little girl started crying and refused to do anything.

I couldn't figure out what was wrong because she's usually really good and loves to swim, so I sent her over to her mom.

They came back over a bit later to the class and the mom explained that it was the practice teacher and she was afraid of him.

I managed to distract her and play games until the class ended, so that all worked out.

After that, I had my last class of the day.

I look forward to my last class, I have the two cutest little girls.

One is always smiling and ready to jump in while the other is really sweet, quiet and still nervous to go into water where she can't touch.

It's understandable at her age, but I don't think she'll be ready to let go of me in deeper water any time soon.

Halfway through the class, the little girl that's always happy to swim just lost it.

She didn't want to swim anymore, she was sobbing and her mom wouldn't take her out of the class and left her in the pool.

I still had another child to teach, so I called over a float teacher and got her to deal with the situation as I continued on with the class with the other girl.

That was my last class so I just left the pool and put it behind me.

It was a rough morning, it was the worst day of lessons yet.

I didn't know what to expect on today, but I was happy with the results.

My first class is a class with both the parent and the child, and I have 10 (parent and child duo) enrolled in the class.

Today, only 4 of them showed up.

It was the most bizarre thing, but I loved it. 

It was a lot quieter, I wasn't buzzing, I could watch what each kid was doing and not think "Oh no, did this kid already do it yet?"

It was so nice, I didn't do as many songs as I usually would, I didn't have to yell as much so it was nice and calm first class.

After that, I have a class where only one kid is enrolled in it, but she didn't show up so I got 20 minutes in the hot tub which was the nicest thing ever.

After that, I only had 3 more 45 minute classes.

I usually find them brutal, but I was able to fill the time up easily and we did fun things, so it was a really nice.

I left the pool feeling pretty good about today and today's lessons.

I feel as though I still have a lot to cover, but I still have at least five more weeks of lessons.

I wasn't as overwhelmed as I can be on Sunday mornings and it was nice to be able to take a breath and really think about what I'm doing and not worrying about the next thing, the next drill, the next song or the next game that we're doing.

I had a bad day at work on Saturday, but I had a great one today.

We always have good days and bad days no matter who we are in he work and what we do, but the days will always be there to balance each other out.

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Having Too Much On Your Plate

Yes, it is Thursday and not my usual Wednesday post, but here's my reason as to why my bi-weekly post is late:

I was tired.

I haven't had the greatest sleep pattern since school as started, I've been going to bed very late with headaches, waking up early with headaches and it's not the greatest cycle for me.

I spend the majority of my day with headaches and I shouldn't be.

With all of this going on, I also work all day Saturday and then Sunday morning.

By the time Sunday afternoon comes around, I'm tired and I don't want to do all that much.

My plate is already full. My weeks have been pretty eventful.

Yesterday, I was in class when I received an email notification.

I'm in a Facebook group for work, and every time someone posts, I get an email notification.

It was a co-worker of mine looking for a teaching substitute to cover his 4:15-8:15 shift.

Four hours is a long time to be working as a teacher. It's a long time in the pool and you're bound to get cold within the first hour and a half.

I didn't know whether or not I wanted cover his shift, but after talking with my mom, I decided to take the shift because I could get more experience, get as many favours as possible, and I do need to earn money.

I ended up really enjoying the shift. I did get very cold about halfway through, but I made it to the end.

My last class was suppose to end at 8:15, but it went over until 8:20-8:25. There's absolutely no problem with that, it's just that I was so tired.

I got home at maybe 9:15, had supper, lied on my bed with full intention of writing a post, but I kept drifting off to sleep.

When I took that extra shift, I thought that I was doing it for me, I thought that I was doing it to earn money to put towards a trip, but I realized that I was wrong.

I also took that shift because I didn't want my coworker to worry. I didn't ask why, but I didn't want him to worry the whole day over if he would get a substitute for the shift or not.

It's not my responsibility. We are a facility with 30+ employees, I'm not the only one who would've been able to take the shift, I was the first to offer.

I shouldn't feel stressed or anxious about my evening if I'm taking someone else's shift. I'm doing it because I can, but sometimes I do it because I think I have to.

It is not my responsibility to make sure that someone else's shift is cover when I'm not working. Of course I can take the shift if I don't have any homework and I'm feeling okay, but there are supervisors that could have also covered his shift.

I should feel stressed over someone else's shift, that's not what I signed up for.

I'm going to plan my day and make sure that I have everything under control before I take on any extra shifts.


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A Team That Helps & Supports You

I was in at the pool today doing some subbing hours and my first few classes were good, but then I had this one class with two little boys at a beginning level.

The smallest one said that he could go into the big pool and his mom agreed to that, so I took them to the big pool.

One of the lifeguards must know these guys because he signalled me to watch the smaller one.

After doing 25 meters in the big pool, he told me that he was starting to get tired.

Knowing that this couldn't end well, we all started another lank to head back towards the small pool and we'd swim there.

This kid started to get really upset, started to tell he that he wasn't tired, almost started to cry and I told him that we could go back in later.

He couldn't touch at the bottom of the little pool and he was constantly putting his head under for as long as he could, so I'd say that it was a good five minute battle before I got him to sit on the wall and wait while I did a drill with the other little boy.

Well, I didn't get him to sit on the side of the pool.

The same lifeguard who warned me about this little guy came by and said to him "She's a really fun teacher, but you have to listen to her, she knows what she's doing," and he finally sat on the wall two minutes after that.

I was really thankful that he came over and said those words to him because it really did help to get him to listen to me and he helped me get things under control faster than I would've on my own.

By the time that the class ended, I struggled so much with this kid that we didn't have time to go to the big pool, and I told him that, and he just stop and dropped.

He started to cry and he just sunk to the bottom of the pool.

Being frustrated with him and knowing that I had to get to my next class, I just picked him up by the armpits and got him out of the pool.

His mom saw me struggle the whole time with him and saw me have to physically drag him out of the water, and she started with "Are you not listening to your teacher? You're in big trouble," but I just handed his mom his report card and walked away.

My next class was a lot more cheerful because it was a class where the parents are in the water with toddlers and babies.

It's quite a cute class, but I never taught it before. I ran out of activities to do and songs to sing about halfway through the class, so I asked one of my supervisors to help me out and he agreed.

I was so happy when he came in with a new song, a few games and some toys.

You can't really teach them anything because they're too young, it's mainly about them being in the water and playing games and that wasn't something I was used to, so I was really thankful when my supervisor for in the water with me.

Being already worked up from my previous class, being able to go up and ask my supervisor for help was great.

Like I mentioned, I was running out of ideas and I started to get myself worked up again over that, so having my supervisor willing to get in the water with me almost gave me a flood of relief.

In a workplace such as the pool, it's really fun but it can get tense and stressful at times, and I felt as though today was a tense and stressful day.

Getting the chance to work with a team that will look it for you and help you in anyway they can, wether it's get in the water and teach a class with you, be a second authority figure when a kid is acting up or to help you even get them in the water.

I'm really lucky to be working with that staff that I'm currently apart of, and if you're working and feel to stressed or tense, don't be afraid to ask someone else for help.

Even your supervisors will be will into help you whatever the job it.

People say that when you start working, it's almost a little team. I didn't understand that until now and I don't think that I could describe the aquatic staff at the facility I work at as anything but a team.

I find that they really support you when you need it and that's something you can use to help you when you're struggling.


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Take The Time To Relax

I know that I have the biggest softball tournament of the year coming up in about a week and I still have a bad ankle, but when my friend asked me to sub for him and teach swimming lessons, I couldn't refuse.

In the facility I work in, there's a rule that states teachers have to leave their work sheets at the pool in case an emergency comes up and you can't make it in, someone can cover your shift and know what to teach the kids.

My friend doesn't leave his stuff there, everyone knows it but it's not really been a problem until recently.

Awhile back ago, I had to write his report cards for him because he didn't leave his stuff at the facility and no one could get ahold of him to see if he did them or not.

I stayed back to do them, an good thing I did because he never did them.

I got a text from him today asking if I could sub for him today, and as I mentioned before, I agreed.

I asked him what the classes were and where the worksheets/lesson plans were, but I didn't get all the information.

He told me the levels that I were to teach in order and the names (or the majority of the names) of the kids in each class, but I didn't have an lesson plans.

I would've gone over to his house to pick them up, but I couldn't because he was out of town by the time he asked me to sub for him.

I understand that it's not necessarily his fault that I couldn't get the lesson plans, maybe some last minute emergency came up and he couldn't make it into work today, but it's not my responsibility to write some up, for someone else's classes, either.

If there's a rule that says leave them in the work place, leave them in the work place and make it easier for someone who will cover a shift for you.

Either way, I went in early and made up some lesson plans before the classes.

I felt as though the classes I taught weren't well done because I was constantly saying "Um..", reading the lesson plan that I wrote in a rush to have one for each class, and I just wasn't confident in what I was saying.

Had I had lesson plans that were already made, I could've studied them and know what I was doing better, but I didn't have lesson plans and I didn't feel confident in what I was teaching.

When I got home, I have no other way to explain it other than I wasn't feeling all that great and it was because of my teaching shift.

You could say that I felt down about it, but I was also tired and frustrated, so overall I wasn't in a good mood.

It was as if I was disappointed in myself.

Something I realized today is that it's alright to be in a foul mood once you finish something or once you get home.

It's okay to go take a bath and relax, it's okay to stay in your bedroom alone, it's okay to listen to music so loud that you can't hear anything else, anything you want to do that can either distract you it help you relax from whatever event could've taken place.

When I get in a foul mood, I usually don't want to talk to anyone, and you don't have to. However, I would recommend for someone else's sake that if you don't want to talk to anyone yet you get a phone all or a text, tell them something along the lines of "Hey, I'm not feeling all that great at the moment, can I get back to you later?"

That way, you aren't hurting anyone, you aren't making others think that you're ignoring them and its a really polite way to say that you need some space for awhile.

You don't owe anyone anything and you don't have to pretend to be all cheerful when you're honestly in a foul mood, everyone gets that way at times.

Take whatever time you need to just breathe and relax because you owe that to yourself.

i've said this many times before, but your own health comes first, so don't feel as though you have to entertain for other people because you don't.

Take a moment for yourself, and make that moment however long you need it to be.


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My First Ever Work Shift

Oh my goodness.

Today, I had my first ever proper job shift.

As some of you know, I'm a certified swim teacher and as I was lounging around my house this afternoon, I had a family friend text me to say that he was sick and he needed a sub tonight to cover his classes and he asked me if I could.

I figured that this would be a good way to ease myself into teaching on my own  rather than to have my own classes for a first time experience.

I was pretty nervous before I started. Me being me, my mind automatically raced to all the possibilities of things going wrong. Easy enough to say, I psyched myself out.

However, a pool supervisor told me that he would be in the pool with all of the classes today, so if I needed a hand I could call him over to help. That helped me relaxed a bit.

My first class was with an older level, but there was only one girl out of two who showed up.

Honestly, only having one girl to teach boosted my confidence.

I didn't have to jump into a class with six, three years old, kids where half of them didn't listen. I had to teach one girl who was ready to learn, liked to swim and I slowly gained confidence during that first class.

I had a total of five classes in the three hours of my shift, and that's not bad at all.

I was worried that I wouldn't have enough things to do with all the students, but I ended up having plenty to do with almost all of the classes.

When it came to my last lesson, it was a private lesson for a little boy in one, I started to run out of things to do, but he was pretty interested in the bottom of the pool, so for the last two minutes a let him see the bottom of the pool in between two last floats.

I was impressed by most of the kids attention. Of course, it's harder with the younger kids, but all of the older kids were great!

I had a younger group with a little boy and a little girl in the group, but the little boy's aunt and grandmother were also at the pool. Usually that's no problem, but his aunt came over to talk to him during the lesson and that completely derailed and distracted him and he wouldn't listen to me anymore.

I couldn't tell the aunt that I need her to leave in fear of seeming rude, so I said "Hey, hop back in, bud! The lesson isn't over yet!" and the aunt understood that she had to step back for a little while longer and she understood that.

My only other troubled time was when I had six students from the ages of three to five. One of them was not listening to me at all, he didn't want to participate in the class and do what everyone else was doing and the supervisor saw me struggling a little bit, so he came over to help me out with him.

I taught the other five kids while he dealt with that one student.

Overall, I think I had a pretty good first shift.

I was nervous about so many things, but I got over those as more lessons went by and there was other staff around if I needed any help.

Your first shift is always the one you get the most worked up about whether it's with nerves or anxiety, but as soon as you get it over and done with, you realize that it isn't nearly as bad as you thought it could be.

I'm really happy that I took this shift, I feel more comfortable teaching in the water (granted I haven't made any of my own lesson plans) and I feel as though this is a job that I can do well.


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Life's Adventure Pace

Something I haven't written about on my blog before is that I have received a few certifications. 

So far, I have up to my bronze cross certification (think of it as I'm 2/3 of the way to being a lifeguard) and my AWSI (Assistant Water Safety Instructor) certification (I'm halfway to being a swim teacher).

To be a Water Safety Instructor, in other words: an official swimming teacher, I have to complete my WSI course.

I will actually complete that course Monday, then I'm certified to teach swimming lessons.

Both courses last seven weeks each, so I've been doing a course every single Monday from 5pm-9pm every Monday for the past thirteen weeks, and Monday will be my fourteenth/final week. 

Throughout the time of the course, I've been feeling as though my parents are more excited for this than I am.

Both my parents and older sister have followed in the same footsteps: do all 10 swim levels, swim for a team, teach swimming lessons, become a pool lifeguard and then a beach lifeguard.

I've done up to swimming for a team, but I'll soon start to teach lessons like it's expected of me.

To be honest with you all, I'm terrified for it.

Being on my own with up to eight young kids in a potentially very dangerous environment for them, that terrifies me. If something goes wrong one day, it's on me and I'll blame myself for it every single day.

I don't know what to think of it. They make you do practice teaching, but even then, you're not on your own. The original teacher is still with the class and can help out at any time.

The reason as to why I'm mentioning all of this is because this evening, I went to babysit this little girl. She falls right into the category as to what ages I'll most likely teach.

I know that everyone is different and that I knew this girl prior to going to babysit, but I started to get comfortable with the idea of teaching her.

I thought "Hey, I could do it. She's a really nice kid, good listener and will try new things! I could so teach her!"

Then I remembered that not all kids are like her and will be as sweet as her, nor the same age.

I then started to remember my initial feelings about the whole situation and thought about how they haven't really changed at all.

I'm still working up the courage to tell my parents that I don't want to teach swimming lessons, not yet anyway.

Something that I have trouble remembering, and I know that many others also do, is just because you're expected to do something, that doesn't mean that you have to do it.

Life is a journey to the grave.Yes, it should be adventurous in your own way, but you should also be adventurous at your own pace. Not your parents or your siblings pace, but your own pace.

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