I am a 21 year old male with IBS-D. I have it (sorta) under control with diet changes, ridiculous amounts of lactaid, anti-anxiety medication, and I used Michael Mahoney's magical hypnosis CDs last spring, and they seemed to have had a long-term effect.  Right now, in the last couple of months, my IBS has never been better. I'm so glad.
Starting the fall, however, I am facing a potential landmine. I am going to be teaching an undergraduate speech class for my graduate assistantship, and the thought of standing in front of a classroom for a long period of time has me a little freaked out.
Strangely, my experiences in with public speaking/teaching in the past have been wonderful. I enjoyed them quite thoroughly, and I didn't even think about IBS when I was on the spot. I was too focused on the moment and enjoying it.
But I'm afraid that this string of luck may end, and I want to know how to prepare myself.
A couple of details...
I don't know yet if it will be a 50 minutes, three days a week course, or a 1 hour 20 minutes, two days a week course. If it is a 1 hour 20 minutes course, I can always have the class break once during that time, but if I were to have an emergency, a) I don't think 10 minutes would be enough time, and b) the thought of using a toilet in the same bathroom that my students would potentially use is terrifying! I couldn't think of anything more uncomfortable.
One other factor that makes me a little nervous about my IBS and this new experience is that I have a little bit of an inferiority complex about this experience, in that I'm not really that older than the students I'll be teaching, and as a fact, I'm going to be within one or two years of age with these students. So, the pressure feels like it's on for me demonstrate a certain degree of professionalism.
-vmars4eva
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
Teaching and IBS
