Decluttering the Mental Load: Prioritizing What Really Matters

It’s the last day of school.
The whiteboard still has the end-of-year countdown scrawled across it. Your floor is a confetti of crayons, scrap paper, and forgotten lunch notes. You glance around your room—half packed, half not—and feel that strange mix of relief, nostalgia, and complete exhaustion.

You made it.

And yet… the minute the last student waves goodbye, a different kind of to-do list begins forming in your brain:

I should reorganize my Google Drive.
I need to rethink my class jobs.
Should I redesign my behavior charts?
I told myself I’d read that new curriculum.
Maybe I should sign up for a training or two…

Sound familiar?

For TK–12 educators, summer is supposed to be the great exhale. But for many, it becomes another season of pressure—just in different clothes. You’re no longer managing 25 students or 150 middle schoolers, but you’re managing expectations. Mostly your own.

That pressure? It’s part of the mental load—that invisible, ongoing cognitive weight we carry. For teachers, it’s not just “what do I need to do?” but what should I be thinking about, fixing, creating, preparing, solving? even when no one’s watching.

A Tiny Disruption: Choose Space Over Shoulds

🌀 Disruption : Give yourself permission to set the mental load down.

Not forever. But for now.

Start with this simple ritual:

1. Dump it all out – Get a notebook or open a blank doc. Write down every single thing that’s taking up space in your mind. School stuff, home stuff, even the random stuff like “buy sunscreen” or “email parent from March.”
2. Circle what truly matters – Which things align with your values, your energy, or your well-being? What do you actually want to do?
3. Cross out the rest – Not forever. Just for now. August- you can handle August things.
4. Highlight one rejuvenating thing – Just one. Something that makes you feel alive. Let that be your north star this summer.

Remember: You don’t have to earn your rest.
You already have.

Summer is Not Homework

You’ve spent ten months pouring yourself out—emotionally, mentally, creatively. You’ve been a mentor, a nurse, a stage manager, a coach, a therapist, and occasionally, an actual teacher.

You’ve led morning meetings, tied shoes, mediated conflicts, taught empathy, stayed late, cheered loud, and quietly cried in your car more times than you’d admit.

And now, you get a brief window to refill.

That window won’t open if your mind is still living in your classroom.

Deep Learning Includes You

Deep learning isn’t just for students. It’s for us, too.

When you prioritize your own well-being, you’re living the global competencies you teach every day:

• Character – resilience, self-awareness, boundaries
• Creativity – white space for new ideas to emerge
• Communication – with yourself and your community
• Citizenship – showing students what it means to live sustainably in service of others

Let’s model what it looks like to take care of our whole selves—not just our lesson plans.

Try This: The Joy-Based Summer Plan

Instead of a summer prep checklist, try a summer joy plan.
Here’s a format that’s gentle and powerful:

• 3 things I’ll do just for myself (no productivity required)
• 2 people I’ll reconnect with (someone who sees the you behind the title)
• 1 way I’ll recharge each week (nap, nature, Netflix—your call)
• 0 guilt about what I didn’t get done

Stick it on your fridge, your mirror, or the dashboard of your car. Let it guide your July—not your inbox.

Final Thought

If you’re feeling the weight of all the things you could be doing this summer, pause. Breathe. And remember:
The best teachers don’t just prepare for the next year.
They restore themselves for it.

You are allowed to be still.
You are allowed to say no.
You are allowed to forget what day it is and spend an entire morning reading a book you’ll never use in class.

This summer, let that be enough.