Six year blues

I've been very flat all year, something which has taken me by surprise. On the whole, I tend to be very happy just sliding through life. I have a great family, I love my job and I'm too busy to sit around contemplating the inadequacies of my life. But not this year.

I'm still busy and I still have a great job but it doesn't seem to be enough any more. It's embarrassing to admit how much I love my job. I teach high school English and thrive on it - the students are fantastic and I love sharing knowledge and watching them grow and learn. I'm never in doubt that I make a difference in many of my students' lives. Perfect, right?

But now, it's suddenly hard to walk out the door each day. It's not that I've stopped enjoying it, but more that I just want to sit home and read books all day. Everything else feels more important than work.

So what has changed?

I wonder if it is simply that six years is the longest I've ever worked in one job so a sense of familiarity (boredom?) is kicking in, that I've never experienced before. Perhaps I'm out of challenges and need to find something else to stimulate me at work. Perhaps I'm not working as closely with other teachers this year - maybe some collaboration would make a difference. Possibly, I just need to laugh some more!

The most obvious answer is to change jobs and find some more challenges, but that seems a little drastic.

Perhaps I just need to give into my inner bookworm and explore some other worlds far more exciting than my own :)