Dear Teacher, You're Enough by Christina Lindvay

This wasn’t the book I wanted to write…

My first book idea reverberated with possibility. It was going to change the world! It encapsulated everything that was shifting about my educational philosophy.

I wanted teachers to get out of the way of kids. I was tired of the same! I was tired of giving children the same! 

How can we expect children to run off into the world with wild dreams and desires if we keep getting in their way? If we keep stepping on their shoe laces… If we keep holding them back. How can they run if we’re shoving them ahead?

And frankly, how could they succeed if we were too caught-up in our own lives?

This book was everything to me. I was ready to transform myself so I could transform my teaching. I just had to complete my current school year as a part-time reading support specialist, move my husband and our two-year-old twin daughters from California to Canada, and then I could start this dream work, writing a book to help teachers with their mental health so they could help the children around them.

When everything felt like it was about to take off, life showed up hard and fast. Small blows become great strikes. From health concerns, difficult transitions, and then to the incredible rupture from the COVID-19 Pandemic, eventually I was out for the count. The light in me went off for a very long time. 

Imposter syndrome and extreme doubt, amid what was happening outside of the home, led to daily depression and anxiety. Ultimately, I had to put the book to rest, but what I really did was put best to rest. In this space of grief, rest, and reckoning, I came to see that my world-changing book idea left me unable to even be in the world. 

I realized that in trying to “be the best” for children I was holding myself and others to an impossible standard. I was holding us to perfection. 

That’s when a new idea came to me. I couldn’t just write to teachers, I had to write for teachers. I had to tell our story. I had to write about why so many of us modern educators feel overwhelmed by unrealistic demands, scared for our futures, and utterly exhausted by believing we are to do it all (and to do it all well). 

My fall during 2020 onward helped me to see what was missing before. Dear Teacher, You’re Enough isn’t a book about how to teach better. It’s a book about how to live better when teaching is your life. 

It’s about learning how to remove the pressures we and society put on our backs and how to move forward in Teacherhood with more clarity and compassion. It’s about understanding that teaching is one of the most complicated, demanding jobs there is and with grace, self-compassion, patience (and a bit of courage) we can find ways to make this work work for us.

But that starts with getting clear on what’s been in our way. Just as God told me he wanted me to see how powerful I was, I want the same for you. You are who this work is for. So grab your teacher bag, and let’s go. It’s time to change our story.

Dear Teacher, You’re Enough: Finding the Needed Grace, Self-Compassion, and Patience to Carry On released December 17. You can order today from Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are found online. 

More About Christina:

Christina Lindvay is a passionate educator, writer, and mother. In addition to her hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, she taught Kindergarten in Traditional and Montessori settings in Oakland, California. In 2019 her family relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Christina spent the next five years as a stay-at-home parent, Preschool President, and creative. Christina can chat all day about early literacy skills, sewing projects, and how it takes more than pedagogy to sustain yourself as a teacher and caregiver. Christina lives with her husband and their twin daughters.

Connect with Christina:

Instagram: @christinalindvay
Facebook: @christinalindvay
Website: www.christinalindvay.com 

To order Dear Teacher, You’re Enough: Amazon