Winter Break 2018

Being a teacher has its pros and cons. Cons are that you deal with student’s behavior that can be challenging. But the pros are having summers off, a good pension program, and pretty good benefits. Another great pro is having off for over a week due to the Christmas holiday and New Year. I always plan to spend a lot of time catching up on things I can’t do during a normal work week. It also gives me time to stay at home and catch up on relaxing. With that, it takes me out of my routine. I stick to my routine for one reason. It keeps my body in check and I basically know when I am going to have to use the bathroom.

Sleeping in

For starters- when I am on a long break, I turn off my alarm. That means my day starts a little later then it would during a regular work week. My body was off. I became very anxious this week. I started to think of the bad times with Crohn’s in my life.

Mind is wandering

I thought about how it all started. I thought about how the days where I used to run to the bathroom sixty times a day. I thought about the days when I spent three weeks on life support, totally dazed and confused. I thought about the year-long-plus stance in the hospital. It was upsetting sitting on the couch and thinking about all these things. As a result, I found my stomach becoming upset and I had to run to the bathroom. Why do I do this to myself?

Hobbies

This leads me to explain how important hobbies are. I have to be honest with all of you. I don’t have many things that relax me; hobbies. That is why my mind races all the time. I find myself trying to sit down and read a book, but I get off track a lot. I took up yoga and the gym. That has helped a lot. But these days I am fighting a terrible nerve injury in my foot that is hindering the amount of time I can spend there.

PTSD

I have spoken to doctors about post-traumatic stress syndrome that I suffered during the long period of time in the hospital. I don’t have it bad. I don’t ever think to harm myself and am very happy with my job and marriage. It is only when I’m alone and not doing anything for a while that my mind wanders causing my stomach to act up.

So what do you all do for fun? Can anybody share with me things that help them calm down when they are off from work for a while? As we all know, the mind plays a big role on Crohn ’s. As the Winter Break closes for me, and I go back to work next week, I am reminded that I will be facing work stress again. I am bound to find a way to relax at work, and not let it bother me to the point of making my Crohn’s upset. It’s easier said than done.