To think 6 weeks will be hard to fill

[trees4thewood]

I am a teacher, it’s good to have the time off but to be honest I’m dreading it a bit, I remember getting really badly depressed a few summers ago and I can see this one being similar.

what should I do

I feel for you. I can just imagine the vacuum after the busy life of term time. I remember feeling similarly when I was in my 20s and have just moved to London and only had work colleagues friends. I used to hate taking leave because it just meant me kicking about on my own for two weeks.

I have a friend who is single and teacher and she is going off to teach children central Africa for a few weeks this summer! She is off on a real adventure! I wonder whether something like that might be worth considering.

Hi OP, I'm a college lecturer on maternity leave and was on strike earlier this year. When on strike and at the start of leave I had a horrible itchy feeling that I should be doing something - but no desire to do anything in particular once the flow of demands stopped.

I think it was mild burnout and I recognise what you're describing - I had no energy or motivation to do anything. I didn't want a project or to make new friends. I was quite low.

I'm now in the swing of occasionally clearing out cupboards, keeping my hand in with bits of work, seeing friends now and then, and keeping my older child busy - a play park a day, trying to do as many different ones as possible. It just took some time to decompress.

Some ideas:
Language tandem
Volunteer on a farm with WWOOF (I've done this; it was transformative, absolutely wonderful)
Walk for an hour a day
Do Marie Kondo
Ebay stuff you want to clear out to raise a little cash
Read some novels - Elizabeth Taylor works for me
Learn how to bake sourdough bread
Cook from scratch
Grow herbs in pots
Go strawberry picking
Look up some old friends
Get a good haircut and manicure
Try meetups

Just for starters. And take it easy.

I think it is very hard not to get depressed when one has a break from such a full-on job. I think the problem lies in the job being so full on it doesn't allow for many outside interests, so when the break comes, it just looks like emptiness.

People don’t need to be so mean.

Loneliness is a huge societal problem.

I doubt people criticising the op know what it’s like to be isolated.

How are you this morning trees.

First day of the holidays, what are your plans? What is the one thing you can do today?

I am sure between us all we can check in with you each day, you can commit to your plan for the day and share it! Some motivation and accountability from us all....because we want to help you. Only you can begin to make an effort to change , to choosing activity that will give you contact with others. One small success will make you feel a little better, lead to more motivation, lead to more activity. A nicely upward viscous circle.

I cant quite believe how horrible some people have been to the OP.

It seems quite easy to understand how somebody would feel like this.

Maybe OP, might be worth looking into these feelings and what your work is providing that is missing.

I cant quite believe how horrible some people have been to the OP.

A combination of the inability to see things from someone else's perspective, being unable to read between the lines, jealousy and who knows what else....

Morning OP, hope you are feeling a bit more positive today, plenty of friends on here for you to chat to :)

A combination of the inability to see things from someone else's perspective, being unable to read between the lines, jealousy and who knows what else....

Agreed. Also - in absolute fairness - a sort of compassion fatigue, I think. Definitely I'm keenly aware that the emotional giving of (single) parenthood sometimes leaves me with less kindness left over for other people. For me that's my children and to a lesser extent a fairly demanding job - for others it will be their work, ageing parents, partner in difficult situation etc etc. I hope that I'm able to resist being an arsehole to someone online who admits they're struggling, but I also know I've been unfairly snippy with my sibling recently. But a little kindness goes a long way.

Thinking of you today OP.

I feel you need to keep busy then voluntary work or a summer job in a cafe / pub or similar wouldn't be ideal

People say all sorts of mean and nasty things, just because they can.

6 weeks is a long time to fill when you are alone. A lot of the posters on here who say they would love it refer to children and/or partners so their situation is completely different.

Also some of the ways of spending time are lovely (read a book, clean a cupboard, have a manicure) but those kinds of things can be done in a single weekend or an evening. Even one weekend completely alone is a lot of hours to kill.

I have been there myself and start to get excited the week of the results at the end of the holidays so I can gear up ready to get back to work and back to normality.

Whilst I cannot understand this at all as I would LOVE 6 weeks off, can you get another job during the summer just to get you out and about? Or volunteer?

Also, I am single and childless and spend most of my weekends and evenings alone. However I have lots of hobbies I can do by myself - swimming, running, hiking, cycling, museums and I am never sitting in the house and always out and about. Can you cultivate something to do like that?

I had such a bad time at school, was bullied, and I wanted to help others the way some of my teachers helped me.

You sound like a lovely teacher, OP.