Latest / DA CREW Podcast / DA CREW PODCAST SEASON 1_ EPISODE #87_HOST MINISTER ALMA THOMAS_(SHOW #12)

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DA CREW PODCAST SEASON 1_ EPISODE #87_HOST MINISTER ALMA THOMAS_(SHOW #12) · DA CREW Podcast

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Turn on. I don't know Jackie Drummer, wrongfully incarcerated over thirty three
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years. Release support the Free Texas campaign. Tuned to All Tuned to the
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all new Live Again podcast show with your host, Amma Thomas. For God
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so love the world that it gave his only begotten son, that who shall
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have a shall believe, shall not purs be halfever. That's welcome. Welcome
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to the Crewe Podcast, Episode eighty seven with the baddest production team in the
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world, HTA Enterprises, and I am your host, Minister Alma Thomas,
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with a Live Again podcast where I encourage you to live again regardless of your
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situation and circumstance. Do me a favor, hit that like, share,
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and feel free to comment. Before we start, like I always do,
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I want to start with a word of prayer, everything you do you need
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to do and Jesus name, Thank you, Dear Heavenly fa them and the
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precious Mattress name of your son. Jesus. We thank you for the broadcast
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on tonight. We thank you for the Decree podcast and every one of the
5:14
hosts. We thank you for the audience and everyone I need the sound of
5:17
my voice. We thank you for our guests on tonight, and the precious
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name of Jesus have your way on tonight we bind up all technical difficulties and
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the name of Jesus a man and amen and amen. Tonight we have a
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very very exciting guest all the way from the Middle East, and she's got
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to talk to us about her new book and teacher burnout. I would like
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you to help me. Welcome, Welcome to podcast. Kendra Johnson. Hello,
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hello, Hello, can you hear me? Okay, miss Alma?
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Yes, yes, perfect, perfect, Thank you so much. So I
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had the privilege of speaking with you earlier and learning a great deal about who
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you are and why you do what you do. But the audience hasn't had
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that privilege yet. So can you tell them who is Kendred Johnson and tell
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us a little b bit about your book. Cool. So, my career
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as a teacher started twenty two years ago and Dallas, Texas where I'm from,
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and I didn't actually want to be a teacher, kind of feeling my
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lap and then when I when I started doing it twenty years ago, I
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fell in love with it, and I've been doing it ever since. But
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the question I always get asked is how did you end up in the Middle
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East. Well, about ten or fifteen years into my career, usually round
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that ten or eleven point, I started to really experience these symptoms. These
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symptoms. It was just I was tired all the time, I was working
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all the time, I had no life, and I was taking the work
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home, but I was also taking the kids problems home with me as well.
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So it took an emotional toll on me, and it was taking a
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physical toll. So all of those that stressed, that stressed, that stressed
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all of that day and day, I started to really, really really take
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its toll on me physically, and I started to have physical pain in my
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body. I started to have illnesses that would pop in and out of my
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life, and I just was like, what is going on? What's wrong?
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And I didn't have the vocabulary that we have now about burnout and stress
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and self care, so I didn't know what was happening. So I went
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to my friends, and my friends says, Oh, it just comes with
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the job, Miss Johnson, You're gonna have to just deal with it.
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And then I'd go to my family and they were like, just pray about
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the baby, Just pray about it. It's you know, it'll be okay.
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And it wasn't okay. It wasn't getting okay. I wasn't sleeping at
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night, my hair was falling out, I had rashes all over my body.
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I was I had high blood pressure and anemia. So you can just
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imagine me standing up too fast. I get light headed, but I didn't
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know why. So I was taking all of this medication for all these different
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illnesses. And I was thirty seven years old, and I was like,
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there has to be another way. I felt like I was sixty five years
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old and I was only thirty six, and I was like, what's going
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on? And so I did pray, and I prayed a lot, and
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I said, God, I really want a life where I can do what
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I love doing, because you know, teaching is my passion. It was
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in my heart and my soul. But I don't want to sacrifice my well
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being. Is there a way to balance the two, And you know,
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you know it's a very very long shore, but I'll just make it really
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really brief. I applied for a job overseas and I stopped in the middle
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of the applications, said I don't need to do that. I'll just go
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somewhere else short because I knew I needed to get away from that school.
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That school that I was at was very toxic, the kids were you know,
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it was an inner city school, so you can just imagine all the
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problems in the inner city that I was dealing with every day, and I
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was taking that home. So I knew I needed to leave that school.
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But this this just job application that I halfway did. They called me anyway,
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They called me and they said, we can put you up and we
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can get you on a flight. We first, we're gonna interview because they
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kind of already do they wanted me. It was like because we need math
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and science teachers over here bad. And they interviewed me and they put me
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on a flight and they were like, your flight's gonna leave in the middle
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of the summer. Are you gonna be ready? Sure? Why not?
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Yeah? And so I kind of jumped into it blindingly, not knowing,
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like, God, is this the right right thing for me to do.
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If it's not the right thing, please stop it. Nothing was stopped.
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So I I ended up on a plane in the Middle East. Now,
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this is usually the part in the story where everybody's like, well, then
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everything got better for you. It didn't. It absolutely did not. It
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wasn't a turning point because I was still having the same problems over here that
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I was having back home, sleepless nights, worried about the kids, taking
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my work home, over working myself, you know, you know, caring
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more about the work than the kids care. Right, Like, what am
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I doing wrong? And so I did three things. I got a healthcare
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professional. I got a mental health care professional. I hired someone to help
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me with, you know, for therapy. And then I talked to a
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psychologist. So I had a therapist and a psychologist, and I had a
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friend back home who I considered to be my accountability partner. And then the
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last thing I did was I made goals for my life. I started to
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write goals because my therapist asked me. The first thing she asked me was
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what do you like to do? And I didn't know because all I did
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was work. So I was just working and going to church, working and
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going to church. Just like you were saying we were talking about earlier,
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I was just working church. And it wasn't you know, it wasn't giving
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me the balance that I needed it and woudn't give me the quality of life
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that I needed. So about a year and a half into my journey here
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is when things started to turn around for me. I didn't have to take
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the blood pressure from medicine anymore. My hair started to grow back, I
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started to get my skin started to clear up, and my life, the
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quality of my life improved. And so me being who I am, I
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started to write all these things down my journal. I'm a writer by nature,
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and it's a really really good habit to have I write everything down.
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And that writing in that journal started to turned into a book, and that
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book's turned into a workshop. That workshop turned into you know, online group
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classes because it was COVID during the time. That turned into you know,
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um more workshops, and then that turned into a podcast, and then that
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that podcast turned into a different other other interviews with people like yourself, and
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so it's become a movement for me. So now it's just the new passion
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for me to help someone else, to be the solution for someone else.
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Because when I was going through it, I didn't have anybody to talk to,
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so I had to go and hire someone professional tay what is wrong,
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what's going on with me? What can I do to fix this? And
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so I want to be that that light for someone else. Is there.
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If there's a teacher out there going through something similar to what I'm going through
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and they don't have anyone to talk to, you can call me, And
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I want I do nothing more. Now. One of my my slogans is
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I help good teachers become break great by bringing them out of burnout back into
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a balanced life. And that is a little bit of my story. Hey
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man, I I understand that sometimes, even as a minister, we're not
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equipped to deal with people's mental health. So we tell them that if you
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just slap a little oil too, and you're gonna be all right. But
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that is not necessarily true. And like I told you, I went on
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that journey after I lost my son and had to go through the process of
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grief. But what is teacher burnout and why is it such an issue and
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education today? Wow, that's a good question. It's a loaded question as
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well, because what people who are not in education don't understand is that stress
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and burnout are not necessarily exclusive. They're not exactly the same thing. Stress
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is temporary. We all have stress. We get stressed, you know,
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going to work in traffic, we get stressed at the at the grocery store.
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Stress is temporary, It comes and it goes. Burnout is a little
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bit different. It's an extra level because it's it's stress that it's prolonged over
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a long period of time that does not go away, and it starts to
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manifest in different ways. Those are the symptoms of burnout that we talk about
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it and it depends on what you google. You can get five five symptoms
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of burnout. Eight symptoms of burnout. Doesn't matter. Most of the symptoms
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of burnout are gonna be, you know, cater to whoever the person is.
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So for me personally, I'm only going to speak for me today.
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You can google some of these symptoms, but I promise you they will be
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the same. Fatigue, listlessness that means your brain is not it's always enough,
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a constant fog, sleeplessness, You can't focus on the work at hand.
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You are not You get the jitters. I used to get the jitters.
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I don't drink coffee, but my hands will shake because I was so
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stressed out all the time I will. Basically, I used to tell kids,
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I'm coming in on ten. I'm coming in on ten, and that's
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not fair to them to come in on tend every single day. But you're
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always You're hyperactive, you have an increased heart rate, you might have blood
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pressure problems. I had vision problems as well, dizziness, lightheadedness. It
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manifests itself in a physical way. Some of the mental things that burnout does
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is it makes you hate what you do. You know you love it,
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but you don't love it. You love it but you don't love it.
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You love it but you don't love it. You go back and forth with
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that every single day, and you don't even know why you're even doing it.
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You start to question your purpose, You start to really you start to
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reminisce about when did I fall in love with this? And why don't I
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love it anymore? I want you to think of burnout as being in a
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really, really, really bad relationship and you don't know how I got that
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way. You don't know how. You know, you started out loving each
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other and then you turn around and you're like, I can't even stand you.
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I don't even know where this came from. So if you think about
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it, you know your relationship with your job that way, like I hate
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did it. I absolutely hated coming to work every single day. Along with
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all the physical symptoms, along with all the mental anguish I was going through.
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I started to really hate my job. I didn't hate the kids,
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because it wasn't their fault, but I really hated to come in there and
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clock in every day. And so burnout manifests itself in different ways. To
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answer that question, burnout manifests itself in different ways, but it's definitely a
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prolonged sense of stress that you cannot physically and mentally, you know, get
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away from over a weekend or a summer vacation, because it follows you right
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now. I have a lot of friends and the teaching field. How can
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teachers recognize if they are experienced burnout? Well, you had there's an overwhelming
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sense to quit. You really do have this overwhelming feeling every day like I
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don't want to do this any more. Something that I used to love is
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tearing me apart from the inside out and I just can't do it. If
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you want to know the symptoms of burnout in as a whole, look at
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the teacher shortages around the country right teachers are walking out. People who have
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been teaching ten, fifteen, twenty years are walking out of the profession because
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they can't deal with the politics, the behavior issues, the administration, the
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massive amount of of of paperwork that they put on every single day, and
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it's just becoming too much. There's a lack of work life balance in your
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life. That's another clear signal that something's going on that you need to pay
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attention to. I had a she wasn't a client. She's a coworker.
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And because I am who I am, I'm always somebody's coach, whether you
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hired me or not. She said. Her daughter asked her mom, what
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day is it. She said, it's third. She said, when is
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it going to be the weekend? Because that's the only time I get to
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see you. And I said, you need to take that baby out for
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some ice cream. You need to spend time with your baby. That's her
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cry for help. That baby hasn't seen you, she misses you. You're
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spending too much time at this job. And she was like, she didn't
17:00
want to help. She didn't want to she was unsolicited advice, but she
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did take it. She didn't want to hear that, but it was true
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because I said, your baby is crying out for your attention. That means
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you're not spending enough time with her for her to say that to you.
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She really wants to see you and spend time with you. And if you
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if you're noticing that in your own personal life, I was a horrible friend.
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Well I would, I would. I would say yes the stuff and
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wouldn't show up because I was too tired. When I've worked, I don't
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want to do nothing else, you know. And then those things are what
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I teach in my workshops, how to create work life balance, what it
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looks like, what's important to you, Having your vial values and your priorities
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at the forefront of your mind so you can know when you're off balance.
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Because I didn't know. I was going through life like like just pushing like
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pushing forward, like you said, and church and work churching were because that's
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what I was supposed to do. Is was supposed to work, right,
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But it's not healthy because you can't pour from an empty cup and my cup's
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absolutely empty. True. And like we were saying early that you are going
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to have an effect on your students, whether it's positive or negative. And
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if you're going through all these emotions yourself, a lot of times you don't
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mean to lash out at the kids. You don't mean to be unavailable and
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they're going through a lot of stuff at home and to come to school that
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they think is a safe haven. You have to be in your healthy place.
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It's just like ministers can't preach why they're why they're hurting that teaches you
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can't pour out when you have nothing left to pour out. So how can
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schools and the ministrators help prevent teacher burnout? Well, preventing and you know,
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a tackling or two different things. We would hope that you know this
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campuses and the superintendents are paying attention to keep um, you know, qualified
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teachers in the classroom that you're going to have to start some kind of mental
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healthness mental wellness program in your school. They're free unless you want to hire
19:11
someone like me. I can come in there and show you how to do
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it for for ah nominal fee. But once I set it up, it'll
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be free. Right. But if not, if you don't want to invest
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in in in teachers. And I've actually spoken to superintendents, I was I
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was lucky enough and blessed enough to be in a superintendent sum at once.
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So it's nothing but superintendents. That means the people who have the dough right
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And they were like, I don't know if that's going to that program will
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be worth my money? All right, Well how about this. You can
19:37
spend it on you know, doctor bills, a substitutes because all your teachers
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are going to be missing, and you can spend it on training. Because
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I broke down how much it costs to train a teacher, I said,
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you're gonna spend it on more training to when these teachers walk out. So
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which one is it? High turnovers or wellness program? I think a wellness
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program might be cheaper. What do you think? Right? And so teachers
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or people in charge should think about seriously. I mean, it's it's it's
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a trend. It's a pattern that's going on on a country. It's not
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something that people haven't heard about. Self care groups and coaching programs and mental
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programs and shadowing programs where teachers have a place, a safe space to go
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where they are calm, where they can you know, decompress. Not the
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teacher lounge, but a place where they can go where they're calm. Mine
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was my car, that was my safe space to go in there and just
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wusa right, And it sounded ten years ago it sounded really like, oh
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man, that's just flu flu. But yeah, you can't keep the teachers.
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Here are the lifespan of a teacher now is five years. Teachers within
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the first five years are decided. You know what, I don't know if
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I want to do this. When that was said, did not you always
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be the case because wellness, mental health, mental wellness. People don't want
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to come to work. Stress and you all know whoever's in the sound of
20:56
my voice, all no, we don't get paid enough, so we don't
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get paid enough, and we have to overwork us. And then you have
21:02
all these paperwork, and you have discipline issues, and you have parents that
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complain and la la la lah, and you don't care anything about you know,
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my mental health, my emotional health, my physical health. Then I'm
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going to find somewhere else to live. I'm gonna find somewhere else to work.
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I'm gonna find something else to do. Okay, I'm a witness on
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that, but I always tell clients. I always tell people, especially from
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my clients from the USA. You don't have to move overseas to implement what
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we do. You you don't have to move overseas or you don't have to
21:29
move to another country. You might need to move change schools depending on the
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situation you're in, but you don't have to move to another country to take
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care of yourself because you can cry in another country. I was doing it.
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Yeah, you can be suppressed in another country. You can. But
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the key I think that's going to change the shift. That's going to shift
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the trajectory of where where that we can keep teachers, maintain the teachers that
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we have, and attract new teachers. It's going to be how well do
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you take care of your education? So that's something for the superintendents. That's
22:02
something for the superintendent and the principles out there. How well do you take
22:06
care of your staff. We'll determine how well, how much should keep them,
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how well you can keep them, and how long you can keep them
22:12
right because then I my job. They implemented a coaching program, but they
22:18
tried to force you to go. So that's another obstacle, another job you
22:26
have when you're being forced to be coached, whether them just had people who
22:32
needed to be coached, who felt, you know, wanted to be there,
22:36
because a lot of time it really wasn't coaching, it was gripe sessions,
22:42
and so those of us who was tied to the griping didn't want to
22:48
go to the coaching. But listen, we're gonna have a brief commercial break
22:52
and we'll be back in a minute with Kendrick Johnson. Tell your chees Joe,
23:03
which we have known to Eastern Standard Time because he's every Tuesday, but
23:11
he really tell you it allows someone to walk into their tree, join the
23:17
Queen, preserve your today only so much sure as I take your head and
23:37
lead you to the blows the music dies. Something two will be dropping between
23:47
July thirty first in August seventh. You can still join us in book three,
23:51
Finding Love, dropping in December only thirteen thirteen to join Seeking thirty poets.
23:56
Very of the Word is my strength. I found love, peace,
24:00
joy, and hope in the Word of God. I found me and hope
24:03
for tomorrow. We are allowing our words to speak to the nation. Authors,
24:11
here's your chance to get to your work seen across the world. Be
24:17
a part about fifty United authors of aspiring Authors here's your chance to have your
24:25
book and your work to the broadcast out the world. Yeah, say his
24:33
name, mister Cornell Jackie Drummer, wrongfully incarcerated over thirty years. Justice for
24:38
mister Drummer. Free, mister Drummer. Welcome back, Welcome back to the
24:51
Live Again podcast where we're talking to educated Kendred Johnson. Okay, I know,
24:59
um, I don't want you to give away all of your secrets for
25:03
free, but can you tell me two effective strategies that teachers can use to
25:11
pervert it to prevent burnout? Well, if you, if you feel like
25:18
you're already there, then you need to make a list of the things that
25:22
you despise about your job. You really do need to make that list and
25:26
just look at it. There's something powerful about putting pen to paper, right
25:29
and make a list about things you just absolutely hate it. I did it.
25:32
It helped me. If you're not a journal it doesn't matter, just
25:33
write it down, draw it down on a sheet of paper, and you
25:37
know, figure out solutions to those things. Like I couldn't do anything about
25:42
my crazy principle. So I was like, all right, I just have
25:45
to move to another My solution was I need to move to another school.
25:48
I can't stay in this environment because it's toxic and she's the head of it,
25:51
right, Or if it's the kids, it's a discipline. Talk to
25:55
a principle, maybe get you some help in there, talk to someone.
25:56
There's always a solution to every problem. But when we're burnt out or when
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we're stressed, I should say, when we're always overworking ourselves. You don't
26:03
have time to think about it. But if you sick, take some time
26:07
out and write down the things that you absolutely do not like paperwork, ad
26:11
man, parent complaints, whatever it is, behavior of students. Figure out
26:15
solutions. The second thing I would advise people to do, and it's twofold.
26:18
I'm gonna go ahead and throw an extra one in there, and write
26:21
down your priorities and your values. Okay, your values come from the inside
26:26
out. There are three things that you can think of if you those first
26:29
three things that you think of that your values and miss Thomas whatever you can
26:33
think those first three things. Mine is you know, my money and my
26:34
time, my family. Right those the first thing, those are things that
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I value. I value our money, I value my time time. I
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can't get back. Money is the thing that helps take care of everything else.
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Right, it takes care of my family. And then write down your
26:45
priorities with that that means number them. I of those three values, which
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one do you take care of today? Today? I'm taking care of money
26:56
because on this podcast I'm going to talk about my book. My book is
27:00
going to help some people. People are going to be able to get that
27:02
book, and I'll be able to help more people. Right. So,
27:04
whatever your your values are, write those things down and have those at the
27:07
forefront of your day. Put them on a sticky note if you need to.
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Okay, okay, and so um. How do you balance now your
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life and teaching? I'll do you. That's my favorite part of my favorite
27:27
subject in the world is talking about me. Well, I am a proponent
27:32
of you know, first Duke Kindred, no harm if it if it causes
27:36
me stress or pain or anguish or you know, stress or drunk, then
27:40
no, we're not doing it. I have a a part of my dndum
27:44
is a book. It's actually like a paper that I've written for my LinkedIn
27:48
site. It's called you know Noah's a complete sentence and that is how I
27:52
balance everything. Now. I know how to say no, I didn't know
27:56
how to do that before. And when I talk to people, what are
27:59
the things that sparked the workshop is I don't know how to do that.
28:03
Well, let me show you how to do that. You know I know
28:04
how to do it. Let me show you how to do it. And
28:07
sometimes saying no means you don't apologize for it because I come first. I
28:12
am the most important person in my life and I can get another job,
28:15
but I can't get another me. And if you know, if you are
28:18
not respectful of you know, the boundaries of my No, I'm sorry to
28:22
hear that. How you feel about that. No, it's not even my
28:25
business. I don't care. It's about me now. And perfect example is
28:30
two weeks ago when we were about to close in. I'll tell you really
28:32
quick one about why this is important. And if you have these boundaries in
28:34
places, easy, but if you don't, you need to practice it.
28:37
Parent called, okay, Now, I did I did the You know they
28:41
have to do the resets at the end of the year, they have to
28:42
retake the test. Did I did my review session? I was there online,
28:48
no one showed up. I taped it. I sent it out to
28:49
all the parents. Parent called the day before the test and says, can
28:52
you help my child? I said, no, no, no, you
28:56
didn't show up on Friday. I don't have anything for you, didn't get
29:00
the recording. Not my problem. Well she needs help, that's not my
29:03
problem. That's because your inability to plan does not constitute an emergency for me,
29:07
okay. And I said no, And you know, of course she
29:11
called the principle And I told the principle no because I meant it, and
29:15
they know me, so they know that this is what I mean. And
29:18
these are my boundaries. Why am I going to spend extra time now?
29:21
In the past, I wouldn't have said that. I would have done any
29:22
exactly what the parent wants me to do, take up my Sunday evening to
29:26
help this child. But I was like, no, I gave up my
29:30
time Friday. You weren't there. Not my problem. The two problems,
29:33
these two problems you got yours and not mine. I didn't say that to
29:37
the parent, but that's what I was thinking. But that is what that
29:41
is. What no looks like, feels like, it sounds like, And
29:45
you have to stick to those boundaries. People will not respect you if you
29:48
go backwards. So because of who I am. No, I told the
29:52
principle, No, I told the parent, No, No, I meant
29:55
it not my problem. That's something that I had to learn how to say
30:00
no, no, no, not make apologies for it. No. If
30:06
people ask me, well, can you do so and so at this time,
30:08
no, I'm busy at this time. It's just like when you set
30:11
a schedule for prayer from seven to eight, you gonna be praying. So
30:18
no, I'm not answering any phone call from seven to eight. No,
30:22
your emergency is not my emergency. So I had to learn that because I
30:29
used to be uneasy being a Really I was a people pleaser, so I
30:33
was always trying to please everybody, and in the end I was losing my
30:40
soul. So, um, how can teachers recharge and maintain their well being?
30:53
I once you went through burnout, how do you recharge? How do
30:59
you get that passion back? Because I think that once you really really lose
31:04
the passion, especially in the field of education, because it's not like we're
31:10
making boxes, but we're molding children. So when you really leave, lose
31:15
that passion like I used to. I work for a head Start for thirty
31:19
two years and I used to tell my coworkers that a lot of them wouldn't
31:23
if I was the program manager. A lot of them want to got pink
31:30
ships such because you can't leave on your own, but you have an effect
31:36
or children. And if we're starting school on August thirty first, and you're
31:41
already looking for when the Christmas vacation is, then this is not the job
31:47
for you. Sometimes to say that this is not the job for me.
31:51
I can't deal with the low wages, I can't deal with the behavior,
31:56
I can't deal with the parents. And it's okay to say it's not for
31:59
you. Would go, you know, do something else. But once you
32:04
experienced bird out, but you haven't lost that passion, how do you recharge
32:08
yourself and come back facing a new year? Yeah, new, renewed,
32:17
renewed. Because I would go, I would be I would teach summer school
32:21
and be tutoring my kids and be able to do summer camps and things like
32:24
that. So by the time school started back, I was still tired.
32:27
Right I started to school, you're tired already because I was always for my
32:31
kids. But to answer that question, it depends on whether or not it
32:35
sounds like some people didn't even come into it with passion. Some people come
32:38
into a teaching with thinking they fee to get a quick paycheck, and they
32:40
get summers and Christmas off and they realize very very quickly that it is way
32:45
more than what you thought it was. It's way more than that. So
32:47
I've talked to those teachers too, because I used to be a mentor teacher
32:51
as well. When I was working for the district. I used to you
32:53
know, mentor teachers, and you can tell sometimes it's like this ain't for
32:57
you, girl, This ain't for you, but for the teacher has been
33:00
listening to me, and they feel like they've lost their passion again. You
33:05
need to revisit that list on why you how you got here. Go ahead
33:07
and map out how you got here, because if I didn't map out how
33:10
I got here, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have been able to trace it
33:13
back to when it I start. Right, So when I tell my story,
33:15
I always started with the beginning and when I loved it, when I
33:19
really really fell in love with teaching, it was simple for me, and
33:22
it had gotten complicated over the years. Right, So make that list of
33:25
the reasons why you start. Here's here's some of suggestions that are just you
33:30
know, Kindred three and ten. You don't have to take them. You
33:31
can write them down, you can just put them on you know, put
33:35
them on backspace and delete. Is you have to take time for yourself.
33:38
That's intentional. I'm not saying take a day off and go cater to the
33:42
husband and the kids, or you know, run errands. I'm talking about
33:45
take a week end to yourself and really just reconnect with you. I know
33:50
self care is overused, but it is the replacement for healthcare. See if
33:58
self care is the new healthcare, that means you, it is your responsibility
34:01
to take care of you. No one's gonna come in there and tell you
34:05
to cut that laptop off, cut that TV off, stop answering those me
34:07
emails, stop talking to those parents. That's your responsibility. So once you've
34:12
done that, and you've decided lest I gotta take care of myself, do
34:15
something intentional for you. I love to travel. I love to travel.
34:19
I'm planning a trip right now as we speak. Right, I love to
34:22
travel. Traveling does something where it clicks off your mind and it puts you
34:25
in another state. Right. But if travel is not your thing, walk
34:29
on the beach, dinner out with the kids, take you know, a
34:32
dog for a walk, whatever it is that makes you happy. But like
34:37
I said before, when I was seeing a healthcare professional and she asked me
34:39
that question, I didn't know. So if you don't know, let's start
34:44
there. Find out the things that make you happy. That made the things
34:47
that give you joy. Church, you're supposed to be joyful. Worshiping the
34:52
Lord is supposed to be joyful. If you don't like it, go back
34:55
to why. We'll start with the beginning. So if you don't like your
35:00
job, go back to the things that you do love. What did you
35:02
go When did you first remember that you fell in love with it? And
35:06
when you found that packet passion that spark. When I knew I had a
35:08
suit, I just knew my superpower was teaching. I knew it. I
35:12
told those baby something on Monday and Friday. They still remembered it. I
35:15
knew it. I can see my cape in the wind I was blowing.
35:19
I knew that that was my superpower, and I loved it. And I
35:22
ran to school every single day and I love that. I do that now.
35:28
I do that now, even though I went through that period where I
35:30
hated it, did not did not want to go, would take days off
35:34
all of that. But if you're going to do anything for yourself, making
35:38
it about you, making intentional about you. I used to they call them
35:43
mental health days. The ore the best thing God ever gave us. But
35:47
you have to take them. You gotta take them. So if you're afraid
35:51
to take them because you don't you don't want to get in trouble. You
35:52
don't leave kids enough. That's the wrong attitude right there. You are the
35:57
best commodity in that room. If you don't take care of you, you're
36:00
no good to them. I promise you. Just like Missus Thomas said,
36:04
if you lose your passion, you lose that fervor, that thing that makes
36:07
you you. The kids know it, and you want to show up to
36:10
be the best version of you. You want to be that superhero that they're
36:15
looking for. You can't do that if you're not taking care of you.
36:17
You got to find somewhere to fill up your cup. You got to find
36:22
that place in space in the universe that helps you fill up your cup for
36:25
you. It could be you know, being with the kids, walking it
36:28
all. Whatever it is, like I said earlier. Whatever that is,
36:30
find it for me. It is traveling. I absolutely love getting on planes
36:36
and taking pictures in strange places and eating strange foods and things like that.
36:40
Then when I get back, I got a new breath, I got good
36:45
new step pip and a step, and I got some more energy. But
36:47
if that doesn't do it for you, if that's too expensive, find something
36:51
free that you can do, or listen to jazz, go to a concert,
36:52
whatever it is that you need to revitalize you, be intentional about the
36:58
time that you spend with you and I'll stop there a man, So thank
37:05
you very much, come on, coming on and sharing your wisdom. So
37:09
tell us how can we reach you? How can we get your book?
37:17
Well, my book is called Teacher of the Year, Teacher of the Year,
37:22
to Strive to Thrive Toolkit. It is an interactive book that means after
37:24
each chapter there's a journaling section so you can write down some of the things
37:29
that I'm telling you to write down now. And it's on Amazon. It
37:32
is on Amazon, the kindle, it's the you know, the audio version,
37:37
and then there's the the paperback. It's on Amazon. Now. They're
37:43
inside of the book. There is an email address, and I think you
37:46
can share it with them now. If you send me an email that says,
37:49
hey, I got your book, I will send you the audio book
37:52
for free. If you get a copy of this, I will send you
37:55
the audio version of it for free. Why because you can't read and draw.
38:00
And I'm a big proponent of audio books. I read them on the
38:04
way to work. I love audio books, so I decided on this book,
38:07
I would definitely do audio for you. And then if you have teachers
38:12
pay teachers, I have my own page where I have my workshops, I
38:15
have my six steps to successful Teaching for new teachers. I have all kinds
38:20
of goodies on there. Some of them are free and some of them are
38:23
not. But teachers pay teachers. You can find my book and everything there
38:28
too. Okay, thank you, thank you so much once again for sharing
38:34
your expertise with U. And I know that we're on such a different time
38:39
difference, So thank you, thank you, thank you for coming on and
38:45
sharing your expertise. And I would love to have you come on again and
38:51
talk about your first book that wrote about parenting, because parenting and teaching go
39:00
hand in hand. I tell my I tell my parents that you know,
39:05
we're gonna make a coverlation. I'm gonna be there for your kids, and
39:07
you're gonna be there for your kids. So thank you, Thank you once
39:13
again, Have a wonderful, wonderful and blest night, enjoy the rest of
39:17
your school year, and I will talk to you soon discuss your first book.
39:25
Good Night to night, everybody. Thank you. Thank you to the
39:30
all new Live Again podcast show with your host Amma Thomas. For God so
39:36
love the world that it gave his only begotten son, who sho shall believe