I couldn't agree more with this. I spent 18 years as a HS Band director in Texas (11 of them in 5A & 6A schools) and hit a breaking point in 2023. I moved out of state and now teach MS Band in a state with a strong teacher's union. It took me getting out of that teaching environment to realized how utterly toxic it was with the demands on personal time and relentless focus on competition and comparison. Now, all notifications on my phone that are work based turn off outside of school hours, and for any expectations for me to work outside of normal school hours, I am paid an hourly rate every single time.

One of the best things I've ever done for my self was to remove work email and notifications from my phone. Before I did that, every time I got an email notification in the evenings or on the weekend, I was checking it and thinking about work. That is a choice, OP, and you don't have to make it. You have to set your own boundaries. You will get pushback; that's why they are boundaries. The Texas Band Director field is full of workaholics who use their jobs to avoid bad home lives or their career to find personal fulfillment. Many of them expect others to make those same choices along with them. You don't have to.