It’s easy to say “I love you” on the easy days. But love means saying “I love you” when it’s hard.
It’s what good teachers do so well. They give love to their students in real, subtle, tangible ways every day. When it’s easy and when it’s hard.
Admittedly, it’s not easy every day. Sometimes students are distracted, or say cruel things, or don’t take lessons to heart. Sometimes the classroom gets out of hand, your lesson goes wrong, a student, a teacher, an administrator makes a bad decision.
The good teachers keep silently saying “I love you” no matter what.
That’s one of the reasons why the summer “break” is so important. Every time teachers say “I love you” when it’s hard, they are drawing on stores of energy, of love, that cannot quickly be replenished.
Keep saying “I love you” and remember to keep slowly rebuilding those stores of love whenever you’re not with your students.