As we enter the season of crazy for piano teachers and musicians, I wonder how many of you are taking time to take care of yourselves? This is SO important to avoid burnout and resentment. During my first few years of teaching, I gave lessons year-round and only took major holidays off. I discovered that students who were made to take lessons before and after these holidays had a poor attitude and did not want to be at lesson. I was also very tired and lacked the energy to be my best self. Once it dawned on me that I wasn’t doing anyone a favor by keeping this schedule, I adjusted. I took a few weeks off, including Spring Break, Memorial Day (week) and two weeks at Christmas. I noticed a trend in my students. They were more excited to come to lesson after the short break and ready to get back to work AND so was I! As the years have gone by, I take more weeks off, including the first week of school, exam weeks, 4th of July week and Labor Day week. It works for me, that may be too much for you. As you know, we don’t get paid for taking time off, so how are you going to accommodate for lost income? I will go into that in a future post. But for now, if you are not taking well deserved time off, please reconsider. Everyone will be happier.