“Even on the really bad days, I get to hang out with my my friends. I'm very lucky that I'm friends with my coworkers.”
“I'm very lucky. My mom's a BCBA, so I get to talk shop in my time as well, and I get to be like, ‘So if a student does this, what would you suggest that I do?’ That's kind of nice. Something that I do with my mom—a good bonding—Is just talking shop, and we talk, we ask each other for opinions. So I'm fortunate that I have an outlet where it's chit-chat gossip with a loved one, but I'm also talking about the things that are constantly playing in the back of my mind."
“I'm lucky that I have a lot of teachers as friends (…) where I can talk shop a little bit, and I think that that's also important (….) I would never say names (…) but it's nice to be able to sit and chat and be like, ‘I have a student who climbed through the ceiling today.’ And then the other person is like, ‘Wow. I had a kid who chucked a chair across the room.’ (….) It's nice to have that camaraderie, but also make it not be as serious.”
“I'm very lucky that I have people in my life that are teachers. But my partner is not a teacher and he is very open to listening, the same way I'm open to listening about his job (….) I think that it's less about finding somebody who knows exactly the nitty gritty (…) I can also just be like, ‘My day was really bad,’ and the people who are not teachers in my life, even if they don't understand (….) they’ll be like, ‘Oh, that sucks. I'm so sorry.’”