Recovering from October Stress Overload

I'm here! I'm here!

I'm alive.  Sorry for the month long absence. I really did miss all my readers and faithful commenters.  To those that sent me messages checking on my whereabouts... thank you so much.  That was exactly the kick in the pants I needed to log back in.

It was one of those things where a few days turned into a few weeks and the more I thought about logging in the more intimidated I got.  I was actually scared terrified to see my Google Reader count. Yup... I have that dreaded 1000+ staring me down.

So, what has been happening you may ask.  Well, I've been frantically trying to keep my head above water.  Does anyone else just hate October?!  Seriously, my stress level sky rockets during this month every single year.

Is it the parent teacher conferences?  Is it the endless testing that I have to put my students through?  Is it the ridiculously low scores I see after grading these tests?  Is it knowing how far my students have to come this year?  Is it knowing that we are months in and we should be so much further than we are?  Is it that the vision I had in the summer of everything has shifted and things are not exactly the way I want them?

The answer is D - all of the above.

Like clock work, at some point during this month I come home and go on some long winded rant about...well...everything... that inevitably ends with "I hate my job!" (Please don't judge me too harshly here.)

Does this happen to anyone else?!?  Yup, I hit rock bottom every October.  I work LONG hours, like longer than usual and find myself beyond exhausted every night.  It's a good thing I don't have children right now, because when I get home I'm worthless.

So, how do I cope with the stress of October ? Well...

I eat candy...lots and lots of candy.  I basically just crave sugar and with Halloween just around the corner there is candy everywhere. Snickers, anyone?

I watch a ridiculous amount of  TV.  And thankfully, there is plenty to watch.  Have y'all seen Nashville yet?  I'm currently obsessed.

I escape with a good book.  (I'm reading Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness right now.  It is the sequel to Discovery of Witches and it's really good.)

And finally... I go to bed EARLY! (after reading 5-10 pages of my book which means it takes me forever to finish anything!) Needless to say,  blogging takes the hit. 

The good news is that my stress level is starting to decline.  The first sign came last week when I made it through a whole day at school without hitting the candy bowl. I'm well on my way to recovery.  

By the time November rolls around I'll be fully back to normal and I will only dislike my job the appropriate amount on those exceptionally tough days. You all know the ones.  :)

So, hopefully I'm not the only teacher on the planet that goes through this October stress madness. 

Please say yes here. 

I'd love to hear your stories. I take comfort in knowing that I am not alone. Please share your coping skills as well. Do we all eat candy and increase our caffeine consumption? Let me know! 

P.S.  It's been WAY too long since we celebrated some Children's Literature.  Look for a new Fiction Friday this upcoming week.  I can't wait to see what you have been reading!