Dave Stuart Jr.

Teaching Simplified.

The Teacher’s Journey: A Deeper, Better Way of Thinking (and Doing Something) about Burnout and Demoralization [Updated]

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This year has been hard.

But that's also just another way of saying, right now I'm teaching in October.

And at the same time, there's something about each October that feels uniquely hard — with this one being no exception. The needs are greater than we thought. The pressures are more intense. The professional literature is a cold and barren thing compared to the raw humanity we experience each day in our classrooms.

So, what are we to do?

Zoom out

Let's do some highly technical diagramming.

You and I are on a journey this year.
It began when we made a decision: I'm going to be a teacher. I could do all kinds of other things, but it's decided — I'm going to do this. We make this decision each hour, each day, each year, and once upon a time when we first began.
Eventually, stuff got hard. Maybe on the first day of class. Maybe only yesterday. Maybe third hour. We found ourselves confronted by something that was beyond us. A student with needs we didn't know how to meet. colleague whose difficulty was unexpected. A parent we couldn't please. A boss out of touch with reality.
Some of us worked through it. We put our heads down and practiced. We sought wise council. We did the research. We experimented. And we found new methods or capacities that we hadn't had before. We arrived at competence.
Others of us weren't so fortunate. We did all the things you're supposed to do, but it wasn't enough. Eventually, we became burnt out or demoralized.
Meanwhile, those of us that built that hard-won competence earlier… well, they ended up getting challenged again. Because: teaching is absurdly hard.
Aaaaaaand they eventually ended up here, too.
Here's the gist: one way or another, if you stay engaged as a teacher — all-in on getting better, on advancing long-term flourishing outcomes for young people — eventually you end up at the Walls.

Weirdly enough, that's super good news

So, there are two ways to look at what I just described:

  1. That sucks, or
  2. That's awesome.

Okay, so there are more than two ways to look at it. I'm oversimplifying. You can also decide to camp out at the wall, set up a tent there, build a shelter, get super jaded or cynical or self-blinded to the difficulty. But here's how I see it:

Remaining engaged as a teacher has a built-in forcing function for growing into a deeper, maturer human being.

That forcing function is the Wall — burnout and/or demoralization. To get through these without disengaging your heart and mind from teaching, you're forced to take on an Inner Journey.

The Inner Journey tends to include one or more of the following areas of inner work: depressurizing the self, making work behave, and/or wrestling with fundamental questions.
On the other side of the Journey is the newfound energy that comes from deepening and widening as a human being. This energy aids us in our work and in our lives.
And often, it leads us to decide, once again, to be an educator.

If you'd like more of a talk on this, check out this February 2025 Youtube Live I did. And if you find this content helpful, I'd love if you could help me out by subscribing (blog, YouTube) and/or inviting a colleague or two to do the same.

Colleagues, our work isn't just something we do; it does something to us. This is a hard truth — but it can also be such a good one.

On the journey right beside you,

DSJR

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thank you for giving me a question that I can use with the teachers I coach–“What is school for?” So simple, but so absent from our conversations about our work.

    Reply

  2. Very intense side walk you experimented,,,, would like to know how you did it to collect the evidential information😉😉

    Reply

  3. So good, Dave! It’s not IF we hit a wall, it’s when… I cannot agree more and appreciate the direct path back to success.
    You’re levelling up that visuals game, too, and I am a fan (simple + clear = effective!).

    Reply

  4. That’s exactly right. The new found energy part is very important, not only in the life of teachers but also in the life of every single individual. This where things start to pull you. This is where you enjoy things. This is where going extra mile feels happy. This is where you get a sense of satisfaction with your life. Thanks for posting this wonderful article.

    Reply

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