Procrastinators and Perfectionism

My first ever follower!! 

I LOVE you Fun for Spanish Teachers!

I have been trying not to think about blogging, because right now it is not #1 on my priority list, but gosh darn it, the news of my first follower has got me so excited!

(What I should be doing right now: preparing a big fat visa application)

I have a confession: I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. It has actually been a big problem for me. Like, life disrupting. When I was at university, I used to get so so anxious about my practice teaching that I would stay up into the early hours of the morning, every night of my practicum,  trying to think of the best ever lessons, and still have nothing typed into my lesson plan. I had severe writers block, for fear of committing something to paper that wasn't quite wonderful. The result? I would hastily throw together something at the very last minute which would end up being far less than perfect on account of my sleep deprivation. I would then arrive in the classroom exhausted, which only added to my anxiety. Totally counter-productive.

Even this year, lesson plans have been a problem for me. I am a real live teacher now (albeit a newbie), but I still have to remind myself quite regularly (or have my very supportive husband remind me) that my plans don't have to be perfect. The world will not end if I don't invent some new and wonderful warmer activity. In fact, no one will even notice. No one. There is a point where you have to accept what you have so you can keep moving forwards. The fact that you are even worried about trying to do something good for your students suggests that you are likely a pretty awesome teacher. So let it go. 

Blogging is also an imperfect art. You don't need to stress yourself about always writing something that is life changing! Just write. The freebie products you make for TpT? They don't have to be award winning masterpieces. That isn't the point. We are here to share and help each other and learn from each other. Teaching is tough, and we have a lot of pressures put on us from a lot of different sources. Why add more? I know I appreciate the efforts of every blogger that I follow. I have honestly learnt more in the last six months of blog stalking than I did in four years of university. I would never accuse them of not helping me enough! 

Now, speaking of perfectionism, any guesses why the visa (to take my husband to Australia) is still sitting on the kitchen table?? :p