Total planning paralysis

[MsGoodenough]

I have had a lot of serious mental health problems recently and my school have been very supportive. I am now feeling a little brighter but totally unable to plan. I love teaching and don't want to quit but I am going into lessons without proper planning and teaching really badly (this might be my depression talking but not entirely). Every Sunday I have panic attacks trying to plan. I've always had problems with decisions but now even the tiniest decision is sending me over the edge. I'm a HOD with practical exams coming up so I can't get signed off sick. I'm also scared that if I do go off sick I'll never get the confidence to come back. I am also at risk of splitting up with DP so I really really need my job. Has anyone else ever had this? Wtf should I do? I know I could buy schemes in but I always find things wrong with them or think I'm unable to teach them. I feel like I'm losing my mind.... I am in regular contact with GP. I don't want to lose my career but it feels like I will.

Is there any planning from last year you can use? I couldn’t imagine having to spend my Sundays planning, it must be awful. Take the time off if you need it though, your health comes first.

Thank you. Unfortunately I have a real aversion to finalising plans (the indecision thing) and normally teach more from my head. I've taught this course since 2016 I don't know what's wrong with me.

Use ChatGPT! Honestly, it plans lessons in seconds and all you have to do is tweak to to cater for your students. Just tell it your learning objective, how many pupils and your time frame. Total time saver. My MAT actually encourage us to do this.

Does it work for practical subjects?

I’d imagine so. Tell it what equipment you have access to as well and it will plan something around that.

Thanks it looks great! I've realised my issue is more with indecision and OCD. I can't commit to what I'm going to teach so I half plan multiple lessons or just stare blankly at a screen for hours. I'm seriously losing the plot.

Make some rules for yourself - put lesson into ChatGPT and no more than 10 minutes to tweak, then move on. Whatever you come up with will be good enough.

How old are you? Could you be in perimenopause? The difficulty with decisions and feeling like you are both symptoms..If it could be this HRT can really help.