What are you carrying, teacher?
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s a beautiful place, with plenty of hiking trails. One of the big decisions for hikers heading out on the trails is what to carry in their backpacks. If you’ve ever gone on a long hike, you know how much the backpack matters. At the trailhead, it doesn’t feel that heavy. You’ve packed what you think you’ll need, water, snacks, a jacket, maybe a few extras just to be safe. You sling it over your shoulders and start walking, energized and ready, but a few miles in, something shifts. The straps start to dig in. Your shoulders start to ache. And you begin to feel the weight of every single thing you’re carrying.
When your pack is too heavy, you stop along the trail. You adjust the straps, and you take things out. You have to decide what’s essential and what’s just extra weight. Because the truth is, even the most beautiful hike becomes exhausting if you’re carrying more than you need. Teaching can feel like that, too. You start out with energy and purpose. But along the way, you pick up stress, extra responsibilities, and unrealistic expectations. And before you realize it, your backpack gets heavy. The problem isn’t the journey. It’s that no one ever taught us to consider what we’re carrying along the way.
What is The Backpack Practice?
The Backpack is a simple mental practice to help you recognize what you’re holding and decide what you actually need to carry. At any point in the day, pause and imagine you’re wearing a backpack. Then ask yourself some questions:
What am I carrying right now that feels heavy?
What am I carrying that isn’t helpful or necessary?
What am I carrying that isn’t mine to carry?
You might notice things like:
A tense interaction with a colleague
Frustration from a lesson that didn’t go as planned
Worry about a student’s home life
Pressure to meet everyone’s expectations
Just noticing what’s there is powerful.
Because what stays unrecognized continues to be carried.
What can come out of the backpack?
Teaching begins to feel lighter when you realize that not everything in your backpack needs to stay there. Some things belong. Your purpose belongs. The parts of your work that reflect your values are worth carrying. But other things were never meant to travel with you all day. You can care about a student without carrying their entire situation on your shoulders. You can reflect on a tough moment without replaying it over and over again. You can acknowledge pressure without letting it define your experience.
The Backpack Practice creates a little space between you and everything you’re holding, and in that space, you get to choose. When something feels heavy but is not useful or necessary, imagine taking it out of your mental backpack and setting it down. That choice doesn’t have to be dramatic. You don’t have to drop everything or pretend it doesn’t matter. Sometimes the most powerful move is simply to set something down, even for a moment.
Setting It Down (even briefly)
Some responsibilities, tasks, and expectations are heavy but necessary. Remember, you can take the whole backpack off at the end of the day. You don’t have to carry it all the time. You don’t have to carry it home. As you walk out to your car at the end of the day, you can imagine taking off the backpack and placing it beside you. You might feel your shoulders soften just thinking about it. Even a brief pause interrupts the constant accumulation of stress and gives your mind and body a chance to reset. And when you pick the backpack back up, something interesting happens. It often feels lighter. Not because your work has changed, but because you’ve taken a moment to sort through what truly belongs there and you’ve allowed yourself to rest.
Sometimes we think the only options are to carry it all or drop it completely. But there’s a third option; set it down, just for now. Set it down between classes, before you walk into your next meeting, before you sit down for lunch.
You might visualize:
Taking off the backpack
Setting it beside you
Letting your shoulders relax
Even a 30-second pause can interrupt the constant accumulation of stress.
You Were Never Meant to Carry It All
This is what resilience looks like. It’s not about carrying more or pushing through at all costs. It’s about carrying what matters while releasing what doesn’t. Over time, this simple practice builds awareness, helps regulate your response to stress, and allows you to stay connected to your purpose without becoming overwhelmed by everything around you. It protects your energy in a job that constantly asks you to give it.
Because burnout rarely comes from one overwhelming moment. More often, it comes from carrying too many things for too long without ever setting them down. So today, as you move through your classroom and your school, take a moment to check your backpack. Notice what’s there. Ask yourself what you truly need to carry right now. And give yourself permission to set something down, even if it’s just for a little while.
Click here to get the free guide, 25 Stress Resets for Educators.