How to come back a stronger teacher next year... balance.

Despite my commitment to blog at least once every day for the next 30 days and work very hard on my PD (Professional development) this summer...the weather was just too nice today & I couldn't resist to take the day off.I went to the geothermal pool in Hofsós, Iceland, right by my native town of Sauðárkrókur, and relaxed. How could you not if you have this 25 minutes from your house?What a day!As I layed on my porch (after the amazing trip to the pool and hot tub) I wondered about my tweet earlier today which read something like this:

"We have the summer off so we can reflect, learn & grow. Come back stronger!"

Reading, reflecting, sharing & growing during your summer are all important factors to being able to come back stronger next year. But we will not become stronger by forgetting an important part of summer... relaxing and enjoying it with the people we love.Yes you should read, reflect, share and grow but don't let your health suffer for it. We need our time off because we have a VERY demanding job from August-June.

“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”-Dalai Lama

So find your balance. Keep tweeting and sharing but don't forget to have some lemonade in the sun once in a while.I'm going to end this day by watching a good movie and relax. Maybe tomorrow I'll do more PD... depends on the weather really.

Ingvi Hrannar ÓmarssonIcelandic Elementary TeacherFollow @ingviomarsson