How Overworking Almost Killed Me

I opened my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. 

It was dark and cold. The car was stopped.

The last thing I knew, I’d been driving towards home (cruise control set at 55mph so I didn’t get another speeding ticket…), singing along with the radio. Now I was staring at a forest on the other side of the guard rail. 

I looked out the passenger window and saw the headlights of a semi-truck pointed directly at me. Instinctually, I panicked–then I realized that he was stopped, too. So I began waving my hand at the window, yelling for help.

After a minute, I realized no one was coming, so it was up to me to get myself out of there. I did a quick check: my mouth tasted of blood from where a tooth had been knocked out, but it wasn’t gushing. I had a tiny ¼ inch cut on the bridge of my nose. My head was pounding, but in one piece. My knee hurt the most: I rolled up the fabric of my thin pant leg and saw a 2-inch gash that would require stitches. My chest hurt from the seatbelt doing its job, but otherwise, I was OK. There were no airbags in my black 1989 Plymouth Sundance. 

I quickly realized that both front doors were jammed shut from the crunched metal, and climbing into the back seat didn’t seem like a great plan for my knee. I looked up. Where the glass sunroof had been was now a shattered open space, revealing the stars in the sky on this clear, cold, January night. I got my seatbelt off, wriggled out from behind the wheel, and hoisted myself up through the hole onto the roof of my car.

I looked around and surveyed the scene: all traffic stopped across the 4-lane bi-directional highway, police and ambulance vehicles crowded around two other cars stopped on the road, facing the wrong direction. No one seemed to notice me, so I slid down from my roof and walked over toward the EMTs. 

Later, I learned the details of what had happened from the accident report: I had apparently blacked out/fallen asleep at the wheel while driving 55mph in the southbound left hand lane. There were two cars heading north in the opposite direction. I hit the first one, and sent it spinning four times down the road. I hit the second one, and it ended up swiveling around to a stop, ending perpendicular in the southbound lane. It wasn’t until the third impact, head-on into the steel guard rail, that my car came to a stop and was prevented from careening into the woods.

I found out later that the emergency responders on the scene did not approach my car to help me because they were busy tending to the drivers of the other two; they had taken one look at my vehicle and coded it “DOA”: Dead on Arrival. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in the other cars either: one broken nose, one sprained arm, and a seriously freaked out Pekingese dog.  

As for me? I was assumed dead–but God had other plans for me.

24 years ago, I was a senior in high school going about my normal life: school, cheer, dance, a relationship, working 3 part time jobs…(just like most 17 year olds, right?) So when I tell you that “BUSY” and I go waaayy back…honestly, it probably started even younger, when my passion for dancing landed me in the studio for about 20 hours every week, starting around age 10. This was normal to me, so I never gave it a second thought. It was what I loved doing.

But by the time I got to this night in January of my senior year, the lifestyle of overworking without adequate rest was catching up to me. I even kept a pillow and alarm clock (in the era before cell phones!) in the backseat of my car so that I could take 20 minute “power naps” when I really needed to, as I raced from thing to thing in my schedule. It never occurred to me that this was unhealthy or abnormal: after all, my schedule was filled with things that I wanted to do! 

But this particular evening, the constant sleep deprivation finally caught up with me, and my body just said “NO.” Even though I didn’t “feel” tired, my body and brain finally just shut themselves down to get what they needed. 

This car accident that could have easily killed me and others was my fault–because I didn’t understand the importance of boundaries and not overextending myself.

My story has a happy ending, one in which me and the other two drivers walked away with only minor injuries. 

But friend, please heed the warning: You need to rest. 

I know you’re probably thinking, “I don’t have time to rest! I don’t even have time for all the things I HAVE to do, so I certainly don’t have time for the luxury of rest!” I get that.

No, really…did you read the opening story? I GET IT.

I’m a Type-A, driven personality, and I love to be productive and accomplish things.  Except for my very first year teaching, I’ve always had “something else” going on the side. I got both my master’s degree and National Boards while teaching full time, and in the meantime added 4 children to the mix. Waitressing. Tutoring. Dancing. Writing. I started a business. Built a website. Volunteer weekly. Raising a family: just keeping the calendar straight for 6 people and making sure there’s food and clean clothes for everyone feels like a full-time job!

Please hear this reality check I’m trying to tell you: if you don’t edit down your schedule, it will somehow, some way be done for you. 

I don’t want you to get to that point. I don’t want you to be one of the many teachers out there who sacrifice their health and well-being on the altar of a job.

I want to help you not just live your life, but love your life. You became a teacher, probably, because it is fulfilling to you. Well, just remember: you make an impact on your students by pouring into their lives, minds, and hearts. But in order to pour out, you must first be full yourself. 

Stick around at Tightrope Teaching—let me help you with this process. Changing your life in a way that will last starts with your mindset; it’s kind of like how a “diet” doesn’t produce lasting weight loss–instead, you need to mentally change your relationship with and conception of food in order for permanent change to occur.

I’ve made a new resource for you to help you start making this change, for real, today. It’s called “First Things First: Your Action Guide.” It’s filled with clear, actionable steps to begin taking back control of your time, clearing your mind and your schedule, and making space in your life for the things that really matter most. It’s FREE 🙂 Click here and I’ll send it right over to you! Let’s do this together.