I'm a school teacher and I'm doing the bare minimum this year so I can focus on my mental health.

I'm a 28 year old Mother of two and a teacher, I currently teach 3rd grade and have for the past two years. I've always been a hard worker and have always tried my best to give 150% to my students, and I truly love my job. However this past year was a little rough. We had such a high volume of Covid cases and we were missing staff daily. This meant the majority of the time we were missing subs, so teachers had to either take another teachers class during their free period, or we'd have to send students to other classes. It was such a pain in the ass and really disrupted the system. Not to mention we'd constantly have kids test positive. The kids didn't care and I understand they're kids, but it was still so frustrating.<br><br>In addition to that, I really struggled with the parent involvement, or lack there of. I had parents who would completely blow off meetings with the principal, but would still reach out to me and argue. I'd have to tell them repeatedly their child was being disruptive and they'd tell me it was my fault for not engaging their child. I was absolutely exhausted and cried almost every day after school. <br><br>Now it's a new school year and somehow we managed to get a sub to commit to coming every day, and we've had barely any Covid cases. The kids seem quite and more focused so far this year. However, since last year was so crazy and emotionally draining I'm being more lenient and just doing the bare minimum this year. I'm still engaging with the kids, but I'm not going above and beyond like I used to. I'm actually taking my free planning time and using it to plan instead of having lunch with my coworkers. I'm also getting home everyday at 4 and just leaving everything at work behind. No more grading at night. <br><br>I feel absolutely terrible because I know this isn't fair to the kids, but I really don't care. My mental health and happiness is in the process of recovery, and I just want to enjoy being a teacher again instead of dreading it.<br><br>Edit: Thank you so much for the kind comments. I think it's time for me to start looking for a new job.