Hello from a burnt out teacher

[Haley Browning]

Hello! I have been lurking on SVS for some time now. This community is lovely and makes me miss all of my art friends from college! I used to paint with watercolors a lot back in college, and I even thought about doing it professionally. However, fear of failure took over and I went the education route instead. The first few years were great, but lately I find that all I dream about is painting and drawing. The job is just not fulfilling. This makes me feel selfish, but it has come to the point to where I just cannot carry on in that field. I stay late in order to support students and prep. I come home late almost daily and my desire to paint is just gone due to exhaustion.

I am wondering if anyone else has a main job that also takes up so much of yourself and your time. How do you overcome the exhaustion in order to work on portfolio pieces or just work at all?
Below is a quick painting I was able to do while recovering over the summer.

[MerryMary]

@Haley-Browning I Love your owl! Don't know the answer to the question, but just wanted to let you know, this piece looks great.

[Haley Browning]

@MerryMary Thank you for the kind words! And it's all good. I've been asking some of my teacher friends the same question and they are as stumped as I am.

[Jason Crowley]

I feel that frustration! Knowing that you just want to do creative things but your full time job leaves you with very little left in the tank.

I'm not a teacher, but a UI designer for a living, I basically just said to my work "I want to go down to 2 days a week so I can focus on illustration". They said yes and so here I am one year later, still learning, still building a portfolio. I don't know what the possibilities are as a teacher, but in general I think any reduction in hours you can wrangle will be a start. Having said that, finance-wise it's not always possible to reduce your hours, so it won't be easy, whichever direction you head. But perhaps it'll be worth it in the end.

[Jeremy Ross]

Welcome @Haley-Browning! The owl painting is beautiful

[lpetiti]

I've been a teacher for almost ten years. My mentor once told me that there will be MANY periods of your teaching career where you are so burned out on a daily basis that you can only wait til holiday breaks to work. I've found that to be true. There will also be days where you can (hopefully) make art along with your students. I will sometimes bring in my own work and do it when I know they are working on their own projects.

Teaching has always been exhausting, but nowadays it is draining and unsurprising when there is a mass exodus of teachers leaving because of the way they are treated (I love starting my day getting yelled at in my own parking lot for honking at parents dropping off their kids and blocking parking). Don't beat yourself up if you can't make art all the time. It happens unfortunately.

[NessIllustration]

@Haley-Browning You have great skill!

Teaching seems so intense, I don't know how anyone manages to do it let alone try to start illustration on the side...

But if you have a goal, give yourself the means to achieve it. The current situation isn't giving you the opportunity to pursue what you want, so you'll have to change it in order to start working on your goals.

This could mean reducing your hours as a teacher (if that's possible) or finding a job in another field that's less stressful and intense to allow you time and energy for illustration. I know lots of artists who work retail or in the service industry, because when their shift is over is OVER and they can go home and still have the brain power to work on their side hustle or dream.

[lpetiti]

@NessIllustration the best (and only way for most) way to reduce hours as a teacher is to have incredibly strict boundaries for when you work and don’t work. Don’t work outside your contracted hours seems normal for most other professions but for teachers it’s an unspoken expectation. I stopped doing that during the pandemic because of my health. Many would argue that it’s not possible but it IS. You just have to be willing to prep further in advance or in little pockets during the day.

[Haley Browning]

@lpetiti Probably will have to be the case. Pump out everything I need to do on a day off and hopefully have time for me at the of it all. This year has just been a rollercoaster of issues that need addressing the day it happens.

Boundaries are something I lack a lot of when it comes to my current job.

[Haley Browning]

@NessIllustration Oh the joy of when a shift is over it is over! Haha! But you are right. Something has to change for sure if I want to explore this path further. It's the boundary and guilt issue I need to work on. Thank you for your advice!

[Heather Boyd]

@Haley-Browning Hey hey! I can't answer your questions from that perspective of full time work but try to find some time on the weekends even just 10-20 to do some sketching or drawing practices. But glad to see you come out from under the covers, so to speak. Your owl work is so detailed and that's hard I do with watercolour I find. Don't give up, you'll find good help and encouragement here -I always have.

[mariocau]

First of all, great painting!
I don't know if what I'm sharing helps, because I've ben blessed with teaching only art related subjects. I started as an Arts teacher in elementary school, then moved to middle and high school, and I never really loved it. The whole system of grading, meetings, planning was not a good fit for me at the time, I was too young and unexperienced.
But then I started teaching illustration, cartooning, comics and mentoring projects to fewer students but that were really invested, in an Arts school. It was a dream but years passed and even that started to burn me out.
I think that just loving making art is not enough to be an Arts teacher, but if you have the option, you could try to teach painting and drawing as a way to shift careers. That would get you closer to doing your art professionally.
I hope you find a way to make more art!

[Sara Therese Art]

Hello @Haley-Browning! Your owl is beautiful. Lots of lovely detail.
I can relate to being a burnt out teacher. I taught public school for 15 years. I understand not having any creative gas in the tank at the end of the day. I would recover from the stress of teaching during the summer and usually take an art class or practice my painting/drawing but it was never enough time to pick up momentum. I remember telling my family (for years) of my dream to write and illustrate children's books and they told me to just work on it during my free time. But, like you, I was just too drained at the end of the day. And my weekends were my recovery time. I needed weeks of time I could call my own in order to create. When my daughter graduated high school I quit teaching and now my energy and creative well is full. I know this probably doesn't help you in your situation and I hope it isn't discouraging because there might be a better solution than what I did. But, I wanted you to know I understand what you're saying and I can relate. I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you.

[srednaart]

First off thanks for even being a teacher! Society benefits so much from all the effort teachers put in. And wow what a lovely owl painting It is clear from your story that you know what you want to do, but not sure how to go about it. I'll share what I did....because I am a freelance artist I don't make as much money as I did with my 9-5 job working on computers. To do the transition, I quite my full time job, accepted that I would have lower pay from now on. And moved. I moved to an area which cut my mortgage in half, I'm working towards being less dependent on my car, and even considering moving to a different country so I can get free healthcare. In the meantime also picking up part time work to support my creative endeavors. It is possibly to make a career from your creativity, but you have to be willing to take risks. All the best in wherever you go from here! Life is as limitless as your imagination.