The doldrums is an area around the equator that is known to sailors to have long periods without wind,  leaving sailing vessels stuck in the stillness. The childrens’ author, Bill Peat, taught me this while reading “Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent” to my kids when they were young. In more current times, doldrums means a state of inactivity, stagnation, or depression. That is why I call the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas the doldrums for every person working at or attending school. This year, for the first time in as long as I can remember, the doldrums are four full weeks long. Usually, we get a partial week in the doldrums, which also means we get a partial week when we return to school at the end of winter break. Not being a psychology major, I cannot explain the why, but teachers get simply giddy over partial weeks. They completely jack up the lesson plan, but we don’t even care. The partial weeks ease us into and out of winter break. So, losing two partial weeks is making this year’s doldrums worse than ever. 

At school, everyone is getting sick, as the cold and flu season strikes down. The winter blues are hitting hard as we approach the shortest day of the year, which is December 21. We are a bit over scheduled, with Christmas peeking around the corner. The sounds in the hall are muted, with the winter shoes shuffling down the corridors. The classrooms are cold or hot, making it tough to ever feel comfortable, which is probably better, since that would cause everyone to sleep. And that’s just the teachers and administration. The students alternate between still stagnation and wild bouts of energy. Cabin fever is altering their brain chemistry. I never know if I will be trying to keep students awake in my room, or trying to tap down the bubbling energy trying to escape their hormonal existence. In one class period, it could be both. 

Meanwhile, we teachers linger in the hall between classes, clinging to some sort of adult conversation in our world of adolescence. Don’t get me wrong, we care for our students, but we live in an altered world, where we are constantly bombarded with teenagers. Despite my overexposure, I use perfectly normal words that used to mean perfectly normal things in ways that they find humorous. Never say a Christmas tree is lit. It doesn’t mean what you think it does. Conversely, they use words in ways we did not. They need to grind through their math homework. Oh sister, that is not how we used to grind in my day. It’s like having children that you never quite raise. I get really stressed about the first snowy drive in the morning (yesterday). I always have some new drivers out on the road. I worry about them getting in an accident. Don’t even get me started about a high school parking lot after school. If ever there was a place to avoid, that is it. It’s a toxic combination of inexperience and exuberance. Shake a little rain or snow in the mix, and it’s dangerous. 

In high school, we don’t even get little Christmas gifts. Truthfully, all we really want is some high quality alcohol that the typical teacher can’t afford to splurge on, but we all know that’s wildly inappropriate. I’d settle for some cute coffee mug concoction or a Starbucks gift card, but alas those traditions were abandoned at the grade school. So, we trudge through four long weeks of doldrums, clinging to the thought of a couple weeks off, where we can live a slice of normality. But at least we get those couple weeks of recovery. I can remember working in the adult world, where the week between Christmas and New Years was the doldrums. I’m not sure which is worse. 

If you have friends that are teachers, buy them a drink the next time you are out. You send your squirrelly kids to them each and every day. Remember Covid, when you had to deal with your own offspring? Right! Have a great week everyone!