Technolandy

Day 113 (of 2025/26)

Back to the “Worst Day of the Year”

It’s that time again.

Day 113.

Somewhere near the end of February. The stretch between breaks. The calendar feels long. The light is returning, but energy isn’t quite.

And if you’ve been in schools long enough, you can feel it before you can name it. And it can hit hard… one day this week, often around day 113 of the blog (I’m sure it’s coincidental not causational…)

This isn’t new for me.

I wrote about it in 2015. https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/day-113-of-188-always-forget-this-time-of-year/

I wrote about it again in 2019. https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2019/02/27/day-114-of-187-i-was-off-by-one-day-today-was-what-i-expected-for-day-113/

I circled back in 2022. https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2022/03/02/day-113-of-2021-22-approximately-that-time-of-year-so-be-mindful-with-a-shoutout-to-thierck-jellerthree/

And here we are.  Again…

That continuity matters. This isn’t a dramatic declaration about one bad day. It’s pattern recognition.

And pattern recognition is leadership.

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It’s Not You. It’s… Us?

When I was a new vice-principal, my first partner-principal pulled me aside around this time of year and said something like:

“End of February is sneaky hard. Watch for it.”

He wasn’t talking about one incident. He meant the whole ecosystem.

Families feeling the weight of post-holiday credit card bills.

Seasonal affective dips from months of grey.

Less outside time.

Students restless.

Staff tired.

The novelty of January resolutions worn thin.

Spring break still not quite close enough.

Nothing catastrophic.

Just cumulative.

Not a storm. A steady drizzle.

And drizzle, over time, soaks everything.

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Naming It Normal

When leaders name a rhythm, people exhale.

“This happens.”

That sentence alone reduces shame.

It’s not that the staff meeting was uniquely tense.

It’s not that parents suddenly care less.

It’s not that students forgot how to regulate.

It’s that we’re human. In February. In Canada. In a long season.

Day 113 isn’t doom.

It’s a cue. Let’s listen to it.

Thank goodness for Buzzfeed for adding some perspective and laughs… https://www.buzzfeed.com/angelicaamartinez/bad-luck-reddit-day