Unexpected Benefit

For the second summer in a row, our building is under some serious construction. The end of the year  has been a frenzy of packing and moving and storing to take care of our instruments and equipment while the building was under work.

But then, this weird thing has happened. I couldn't go in to work over the summer. No library organizing. No jump on copies and paperwork. No inventory rechecks. No room set up or decorating.

I know a lot of that sounds terrifying. And I'll admit some of it was and will be again to start this fall.

But it's also been freeing. I've had to take my summer off.

That's not to say I haven't done some computer work. But it's been done on my couch, the deck, or my porch.

The further I get into my career, the more I'm finally realizing, it's OK to actually take time away. It's OK to set an away message on your email. It's OK to go days or weeks without doing anything school related. It's OK to not be planning or prepping yet.

So often we feel the need to justify our summers off by talking about the work we do, the classes we take, the set up for the coming year, but I think we need to stop justifying. The school year is busy. And as music educators, we have a lot of outside school commitments. Summer is for recharging. And not just talking about it, but actually doing it.

With summer break being just past half over here in Michigan, I'm just about ready to get back at it after time away. Who'd have thought that I'd end up being grateful for a situation that initially caused so much panic?