Sundays
I don’t write posts on Sundays and it has been mentioned, and it made me think that maybe there are people out there reading this blog who have or are still wondering why there hasn’t been a post from me on all the Sundays since I have returned to Japan about a year ago (and probably even during the two years after I moved here for the first time). The truth is, the reason is simple (I think) and purely selfish.
I choose (I say choose, not chose, because I don’t think the situation will change anytime soon or even in the future despite the selfishness of my reason, which you are about to find out soon) not to post on Sundays because I decided some time ago (I can’t really remember when but it was probably around the time I came back last year in March when I returned to work for the cram school again) that I would spend my Sundays without doing any work because I think it’s a good way for me to have work-life balance, which is a term used to describe the idea that an individual’s time and focus should be divided between work and family or personal activities.
Since I work from Mondays to Saturdays, Sunday is the only day I have wherein I don’t have to go to work. Although I don’t spend a lot of my time during work days at the school, I still spend most of my day working. From the moment I get up until the moment when I’m lying down in bed waiting for sleep, I am continuously planning, making and thinking of the lesson I will give in my classes; the activities I can give my students so they can apply what they’ve learned from the lesson; the games I have to create or make up so that my younger students can get stimulated after a long day at school; and many other things like finding the right song, which should be fast enough but not too slow and with words and expressions that aren’t so difficult among other things.
This means, for me, that my life pretty much revolves around my job six days a week, which I don’t really mind because it is my job and I intend to do my best for the students who come to my classes. I also enjoy my classes with my students, but I believe that work-life balance is important in order for a person to continue being happy or at least satisfied with their job. Having a day when I don’t have to think about work and do work gives me a break so I can be refreshed and excited for another week; get my creative juices flowing so I can come up with more ideas for my lessons; and also have some time to clean my apartment, connect with people I love and watch a movie or take a long walk.
Like I said in the beginning of this post, my reason for skipping Sunday is purely a selfish one; so if you have ever felt disappointed about that, I apologize for that and I apologize in advance because I don’t think I will publish posts on Sundays in the future. Work-life balance is important for me as a person and also I think important in my work as an English teacher who interacts with her students a lot, so I will maintain Sunday as my work-free day and I hope you’ll understand. Thank you!