✨ Why I’m Ditching Skittles (Even Though I Don’t Like Them)
High Vibe Living | P Mac Insights | June Newsletter
I was 158 pounds when I returned to teaching last fall after a much-needed break. By the end of the school year, I had gained 10 pounds.
Why?
Because I was eating my feelings.
Birthday treats in the staff lounge. Surprise cupcakes from Room 12. And Skittles—handfuls of them—on those long afternoons when I just couldn’t anymore. Not because I like Skittles, but because they were there, and I was fried.
Let’s be honest: a job in education is not for the faint of heart.
It’s a nonstop stream of decision-making.
Who needs to go to the bathroom?
Who didn’t bring their folder?
Is that a bloody nose or a marker mishap?
Did I remember to submit attendance?
At any given moment, my brain is holding 25 different stories, needs, emotions, and to-do lists. It's not just mental labor—it’s emotional gymnastics.
And then I come home to my own family... and the person they get is often snappy, short-fused, and completely done. I don’t like that version of me. She’s not the joyful, present, high-vibe woman I imagine when I write about personal growth.
Yes. That’s the kicker.
I write books about people choosing joy. Rediscovering their creativity. Reclaiming their inner voice.
Characters who wake up and say, “There’s more to life than this grind, and I want it.”
But the truth?
I haven’t always been walking that talk.
The Burnout Is Real (But So Is My Curiosity)
I love teaching. I truly do.
I love being a facilitator of ideas. I love sitting next to a kid who’s proud of a sentence they just wrote. I love the laughter that bubbles up when someone misreads a word in the best way possible.
But I don’t love how teaching depletes me when I don’t have a system in place to recover.
That’s where this summer comes in.
This June, I’m hitting pause on sugar-fueled coping and exploring something different:
🧘♀️ High-vibe living—teacher edition.
What’s That Even Mean?
It means I’m experimenting with how I eat, move, think, and rest.
Not in a “new me, new diet” kind of way. In a sustainable, joyful, I-want-to-feel-good-during-lunch-duty kind of way.
This month’s focus?
🌿 Food. Specifically, high-vibrational foods that energize instead of exhaust.
I found this list online (link here) and it got me thinking: what if I created a recipe book? One specifically for teachers who want to feel better but don’t have the brain capacity to think about it once school starts again.
Because let’s be honest—August me isn’t going to have time to Google “easy meal prep chickpea recipe” while also labeling notebooks and figuring out why three parents emailed me with concerns about the summer math packet I didn’t assign.
So I’m doing it now.
I’m testing meals. I’m writing notes. I’m tracking what actually works. And I’m sharing it all with you—right here.
What You’ll Get This Month
📝 Reflections like this one on what’s really going on behind the staff lounge cookie tray.
📚 Recipe posts with commentary, like: “This salad tastes like hope—and lemon.”
🎙️ Podcast mini-episodes about staying sane when your school’s copier goes down again.
And yes… a little promo because…
📚 Summer Reading Plug (because my characters are more grounded than me right now)
If you're looking for a book to read this summer that blends magical realism, life lessons, and satirical commentary on the modern world, grab my novels:
📖 Poof! And So It Is
The story of a man who gets all the money in the world… and still can’t spend his way to happiness.
📖 Poof! I Changed My Mind
A metaphorical film set in the higher realms where one man’s higher self shouts “CUT!” on the life he’s been stuck in.
They’re funny, soulful, weird, and—if I may be so bold—pretty great airplane or hammock reads.
Final Thought
I don’t want to end up a teacher who survives the system only to limp into retirement with diabetes, chronic fatigue, and a pile of regret.
I want to thrive in this career, not just push through it.
So this summer, I’m treating myself like I matter—because I do.
And you do too.
You don’t need to ditch Skittles (unless you want to). But maybe—just maybe—you want to join me in choosing something that actually fills you up.
Stick around for the recipes.
Stay for the snark.
And if you see me post a quinoa bowl with too many exclamation points… know I’m probably just proud I didn’t eat leftover pizza for lunch.
With love and lemon water,
P Mac
Enjoyed this? Pass the bacon.
Share it with a friend—and if you’ve made something meaningful lately, I’d love to see it. I might pass it along next.
Welcome to P Mac Insights,
where the teacher’s lounge meets the writer’s retreat.Each month, I share real reflections on life inside the classroom, what it means to stay creatively alive, and how to chase a high-vibe lifestyle—without burning out or giving up snacks.
Come for the stories, stay for the soul shifts.
✏️ Writing
🧘♀️ Wellness
🍽️ Real talk about sugar, burnout, and what’s for lunchLet’s figure out how to live on purpose—even when the copy machine breaks.