I woke up at four AM with my mind whirring. 

This week. Busy. So busy. Don’t want to forget anything. Grades close on Friday. Two projects due. Formal observation on Friday. First grad class meets Wednesday. Syllabus is ready. I have to gather books to bring with me to school. Blog. My OLW blog post for Thursday. Birthday Dinner on Thursday. Dinner out Friday. Snow?!?! There could be SNOW?!?! Don’t think about it. Snacks for Wednesday? Should I get more? Formal lesson plan written for Friday? I should wait and see if there’s a snow day between now and then. I can’t think of what to write for Thursday!!! Did I pick the wrong OLW? What should I say?!?! (I love the interrobang!) Nothing’s coming to me. Everything I start sounds silly and dumb and just plain bad. And blogging…the SOLC is coming soon. Can I do it? Can I blog everyday for a month AND teach a graduate class AND teach 100 sixth graders AND…breathe. Stop! Yes. Day by day. I can do it. I will do it.

Pardon my brain dump. When I wake up at 4AM with thoughts spinning faster than a roller coaster, I need to write. I call this kind of writing a brain dump. The process of writing it makes me feel calmer.  

How do you calm down in the midst of panic?