Apologies in advance, I'm just having a *very* rough go of it this year and am feeling wildly overwhelmed.

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This is my sixth year as a Middle School Literature teacher and I feel like I'm completely underwater. Between writing our school's WASC document, running our after-school program by myself, teaching six classes a day, being three weeks behind with my grades at all times, creating an engaging curriculum (my school has never bought a Lit curriculum - I've created it myself but am always trying to add new things), handling a demanding admin team, dealing with insane entitled anti-vax and ultra-conservative parents, and trying to maintain my sanity, I feel like I'm slipping.

I'm so envious of teachers who are able to work only during contract hours. I have a single prep on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays - Tuesday and Friday are reserved for mandatory meetings that always take far too long. At the end of the day I'm absolutely exhausted and feel totally fried.

There has to be some way to balance my own life and the responsibilities that come with teaching. Does anyone in a similar situation have any tips on how to organize, or even how to grit and bear it until the end of the year? With a school so small, its almost impossible to ask for a mental health day or ask for a reduction in my workload. Any survival tips for a frantic millennial teacher?

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PS - This panic rant is brought to you by the fact that my admin now knows that I have LGBTQ representation in my classroom library and that I supported a student who came out to me last week. Politics in the classroom aside, every kid deserves to feel loved, respected, and valued, and to see themselves in the books they read. I'm waiting for disciplinary action.