Job Discussion Forums

[A.K.A.T.D.N.]

Man, it just sucks. On a bender now, no hope. Feel like jumping off a bridge.

[aswang]

Don't, we all get to that point every once in a while. Sometimes more than we want to admit to ourselves. Doesn't matter where you are, or even who you are---- it's all internal psychic overload--feeling incompetent, hopeless, useless, lost, etc.....It's one of those nasty and unavoidable waves that comes out of nowhere and just hammers down on our heads......like being thrashed to a pulp in the middle of a typhoon of black-hole negativity. All you can do is hang on and fight it.....fight the negative urges ......things WILL get better...... it just happens over time...................Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world and most people are oblivious to how difficult and draining it really is.. Only other teachers know..... It is far harder than the hardest day I ever had in the emergency room and I worked there for 10 years under stress and pressure.....generally speaking, in the medical world, things actually respond when the correct steps are taken. In the teaching world, it's almost impossible to know exactly what is taking place internally. Teaching is so nebulous that you never know if you're doing really well or not........Leads to lots of anxiety and even psychosis.............It's really an ART that takes decades to get a proper feel for it.....Give yourself a break and stand back and let it wash over you. Don't internalize it--------get up and try again....and again....and again....it will happen over time..............

[A.K.A.T.D.N.]

[aswang]

The natural reaction is to want to strike out and retaliate....it's a normal reaction, an instinctive response we all have... But-- our ID knows that such a move will just make everything far worse and increases the downward spiral.....the very spiral we want to get OUT OF.... not accelerate....I probably have many of the same tendencies you relate and I try finding ways to deflect the negative, acid forces that engulf me on a somewhat regular basis..(after working in the medical world for 15 years I realized most people are truly psychotic to varying degrees). Physical exercise works for lots of people and I find myself craving some exercise when life starts to back up like a sewer. It got like that when I was working in a petty little hogwan on Cheju-do back in the 90s and I bought a mountain bike and rode all over every free moment I had--- what an antidote!!!! Regular work-outs on a bike or rowing machine, or pool, or whatever Helps you transcend all the petty crap people are always flinging out at each other. As unpleasant as it sounds I think the vast majority of people are essentially reptiles because they are so self-focused, self-absorbed and petty. It's a basic human trait connected to survival instincts on the most primal level. So, one has to find ways of surviving the perpetual bombardment from the endless stream of psychopaths that inhabit this world and dump on us every day...... As my favorite philosopher/mythologist Joseph Campbell says-- Life is a wonderful, incredible drama-- but it HURTS!! He has an amazing way of helping get through it all by looking at it from an insightful perspective on how all peoples and all cultures are essentially acting out the same old drives, urges, and dramas that have driven humans since time began for us.....If you can, get hold of "THE POWER OF MYTH", his week-long interview with Bill Moyers.....it's a life-changing insight into being human and survivng all the pain that comes with the game here on this planet......