In our professional lives, Covid is a difficult and unwieldy gift that won’t stop giving. We’ve lost track of how many problems it has caused, how many challenges we’ve cleared, just to have five more populate our horizons.

It’s just really, REALLY hard.

However, we are starting to feel some hope: there is reason to believe we may be approaching one of the final landmark obstacle courses for this school year: the one of successfully welcoming students back into our classrooms. And we all know that, despite the simplicity of the stated task, what we encounter will be anything but simple.

To manage this challenge successfully, it is imperative that we take good care of ourselves by acknowledging our own fears and stressors, and put ourselves in the best place possible to acknowledge and support out students. None of us want to add to the trauma our students have already encountered, but we best avoid that by allowing our own histories to be valid. We MUST recognize and allow our own needs.

In different ways, we are all suffering from Covid Fatigue. UC Davis recommends the following four strategies as the ones that can make the biggest difference in our daily work lives:

• Exercise: “It’s the No. 1 best thing we can do for coping,” she said. “Any exercise – even a simple walk – helps. It releases endorphins, gets some of the adrenaline out when the frustration builds up. Just getting out and moving can be really helpful for people.”
• Talking: “This really helps, too. Just saying it out loud is important,” Hermanson said. “Find the right places and times, but do it. Ignoring feelings doesn’t make them go away. It’s like trying to hold a beachball underwater – eventually you lose control and it pops out. You can’t control where it goes or who it hits.”
• Constructive thinking: “We may think it is the situation that causes our feelings, but actually, our feelings come from our thoughts about the situation,” she said. “We can’t change the situation, but we can adjust our thinking. Be compassionate with yourself and others. Remind yourself, ‘I’m doing the best I can.’”
• Mindfulness and gratitude: “The more you do this, the easier it gets,” she said. “Try being in the moment. You’re right here, in this chair, breathing and looking around. We put ourselves through a lot of unnecessary misery projecting into the future or ruminating about the past. For now, just take life day by day.”

The strategies are simple, it’s true. But in situations as complicated as ours, the small differences made by simple actions are helpful. Think of standing up and taking a walk around your building as throwing yourself a lifeline. Think of checking in on a colleague as a worthy support for them and you.

As we move into this new phase of education during Covid, let the simple and the easy routines of basic self-care have a place in our days.

Here are some additional articles you may find interesting:

Forbes provides a brief, well-stated overview of teacher feelings, needs, and impossible choices. It does not so much provide solutions, rather a helpful statement of situation. You have to close three aggravating pop-up ads (which are bad for mental health!), but I was glad I stuck with it: Forbes – “The Mental Health Resources Teachers Need”

In a similar vein, science writer Tara Haelles authors this blog post: “Your Surge Capacity is Depleted – It’s Why You Feel Awful” Halles uses her own work/life situation to frame research about what is happening to us physiologically. It’s helpful to understand the bigger picture of our bodies during these events, and what it all means for the minds living in them.

You may find this one most helpful of all: Association of Supervision, Curriculum, and Development published Educational Leadership. January’s issue was on the emotional and mental health needs of school personnel that are arising so significantly during Covid. Here is the editorial, which contains some strong perspective and a variety of links to the other articles in the issues: “There’s Always More to the Story” – December 2020/January 2021

And, finally, Mental Health America gives us this blog post of suggestions and reminders to maintain healthy perspectives and habits as we continue to navigate during Covid: “Teachers: Protecting your Mental Health”