Hobbies outside of the classroom can help a teacher improve and succeed in the classroom.
According to Ben Mack, hobbies are what keeps a teacher motivated. “Without hobbies, I feel like teachers would otherwise go insane,” he said. “In general, for any teacher, any hobby they might have is a good mental break for them.”
One of the hobbies that Mack has is traveling. He sees it as a big stress reliever. “I really love to travel, especially internationally. I’ve been to 28 different countries, and I hope to continue,” Mack said. “The world is so big and it’s so amazing, and I love the idea that you can kind of escape and get away and relieve stress.”
Anytime he has the opportunity to travel, he does. “Pretty much all of my time off is used for new trips or thinking about where I want to go and new places to explore,” he said.
The biggest reason that Mack likes to travel so much is because he gets to see things he never has before. “I think it’s just super, super cool to see different cultures. Everything’s brand new, you kind of get that little kid feeling of what’s next,” he said. “I also like all the differences in food, differences in culture, and getting away from the mundane and the grind of everyday life. I think it also adds to seeing things that I’ve never seen before.”
Mack believes that it’s important to get away from everyday life. “I think it’s really important to be able to escape from whatever job you have,” he said. “I love my job, I love doing what I do, but doing the same thing in the same place can be a little monotonous sometimes so switching that up and having those escapes is good.”
While Mack does like to travel with people, he has no problem traveling alone as well. “I think it’s a different kind of way to travel, and it kind of scratches another itch. It’s a little bit of a different situation and I love both of them in different ways,” he said.
Mack also thinks that having hobbies that people do outside of the classroom makes them become more efficient in that profession. “I think it’s important for everybody to have escapes from their profession and to have breaks,” Mack said. “You can leave all the mental things behind for a little bit and it’ll still be there when you get back.”
Ingrid Perez, one of MSHS’s Spanish teachers, thinks similarly to Mack in the sense that teachers need to have hobbies to decompress. “Teaching is stressful and it is a lot of work, and if you don’t take the time to do something else and take care of yourself, you’re going to be overwhelmed,” Perez said. “You’re going to be one of those burnt out teachers that don’t want to deal with students anymore.”
Perez feels that her true hobby is taking photographs. “I really like taking pictures because you never know when you’re not going to be here anymore,” she said, “so I might as well take advantage of every single moment and take pictures of everything.”
Starting this year, Perez has been making sure to take care of herself to be a better teacher for her students. “It actually helps with the stress, and I have started this year not taking my computer home on purpose because out of school you just need to decompress,” she said. “I think that makes me a better teacher because it makes me appreciate the time at school with my students when I am not stressed out by work.”
Gabby Santos is MSHS’s Health and PE teacher. Santos believes similarly to Mack in the sense that they both find coaching to be a hobby and find joy within it. “My big hobby is coaching. It’s where I spend most of my time,” she said. “I love basketball, but I also like working with students in a setting that’s just a little different than the classroom.”
Aside from coaching she has other hobbies. “I’m really into crocheting right now, but in the summer, I do a lot of things like yard work and gardening,” Santos said. “I also bought a house a few years ago, so I am renovating and redoing a lot of things and that is something I enjoy doing.”
Santos enjoys having something hands-on to relieve stress from the school week. “We do a lot of mental work as a teacher and as a coach so sometimes having that activity that is more hands-on is something I really enjoy,” Santos said.
Similarly to Perez, Santos has also developed new systems this year to prevent burnout and keep going. “I’ve built systems that let me have that opportunity to take a deep breath, reset and relax,” she said. “I think that when you’re experiencing stress, everything is stressful and the more you can manage that, whether that’s through hobbies, meditation, etcetera, you allow yourself that opportunity to show up better for everything.”
Now that Santos is only coaching one sport this year, she feels she has a lot more time to be able to do her hobbies. “I get some of those afternoons back. I really think that I’ve scheduled my life well this year. On Sundays and evenings, there’s always the opportunity to do something that is for myself, whether that is socializing or a hobby or sometimes cleaning is a great hobby to just reset,” Santos said.
Santos feels that she is a social person, so she enjoys bringing her hobbies to the places she can. “I like hobbies that can be more social, it’s not always that everyone’s crocheting together, but it’s something that I can bring to a family dinner in that space after everyone’s done eating,” she said. “that way you can socialize and be present and also have that physical aspect to it.”
She feels that no matter how much you love what you do you should always have activities outside of that. “No matter how much you love teaching, this is still a job and you have to do it. Having activities that bring you joy is good and having that separation allows your brain to reset and your body to let go of some of that stress,” Santos said. “I think it is important to avoid burnout.”
