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Written by Jenifer Gonzales<\/p>\n
As a whole, teachers aren\u2019t great about taking care of themselves. You work too many hours, don\u2019t get enough sleep or exercise, eat too many unhealthy foods, and don\u2019t spend enough time doing things that refresh and energize you.<\/p>\n
Too many teachers have reached the conclusion that this lifestyle is just part of the job; there simply isn\u2019t enough time to be a good teacher and take care of yourself. Self-care is something you\u2019ll get to over breaks or in the summer, right?<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this is kind of a recipe for disaster. Teaching is consistently recognized as an incredibly high-stress career, which is only compounded by the fact that many of you are not doing things that would help you manage that stress.<\/p>\n
The good news is that it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n
Angela Watson has spent the past couple of years really focusing on how to help teachers live more balanced lives. In her 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club, she takes teachers through a year-long program designed to help members get organized, streamline routines, and be truly intentional about how they use their time. The typical member shaves over 10 hours off of their work week, with others reporting even more dramatic results.<\/p>\n
Angela and I have already talked about some powerful ways teachers can save time, but we got together again to narrow our focus on the problem of self-care. In our podcast interview (which you can listen to above), we talk about why teachers have such a hard time taking care of themselves, then we look at four changes you can make to turn that around.<\/p>\n
WHY DO TEACHERS STRUGGLE TO MAKE TIME FOR SELF-CARE?
\nWe think busy is normal.
\n\u201cWe have to decide to reject that notion that being busy is just the way life has to be,\u201d Angela says. \u201cBusy is normal, but normal is not the same thing as healthy, and we can accomplish a lot of things without feeling busy when we build in that time for self-care.\u201d<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t realize how dire the situation really is.
\nAngela explains how easy it is to put off self-care because other things seem more urgent, and in general, we feel okay. \u201cWe tell ourselves, \u2018Oh, next year, I\u2019ll know the curriculum better. Next year, my child will be older and more independent. Next year, we\u2019ll be all moved into the new house, and I won\u2019t be distracted by that.\u2019 But next year some new demand on our time always pops up. We can\u2019t wait until our body is physically manifesting these symptoms of stress to decide to take care of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to say no to people and things we care about.
\nThis can be a chronic problem for teachers, whose time is always in demand at work and at home. For someone who is used to being the go-to person, saying no feels wrong. \u201cWe\u2019ve all heard that analogy of putting your own oxygen mask before you can assist others,\u201d Angela says, \u201cbut actually, living that out is really, really challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SELF-CARE?
\nSelf-care doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a trip to the spa; it can and should mean different things to different people. Angela encourages people to choose a self-care habit that fits their personality and needs. It should be:<\/p>\n
Something you want to maintain permanently
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not looking for quick fixes here. (Going to the spa) once every six months is not going to fix the problem for most people. It has to be something you can stick with and something that you can make a regular part of your life, because otherwise it just won\u2019t happen.\u201d
\nSomething that has a meaningful impact on your well being
\n\u201cDon\u2019t just pick whatever sounds easiest, or whatever sounds fun. You want it to be something that\u2019s going to take a weight off your shoulders and give you this real sense of satisfaction.\u201d
\nHere are some examples of habits chosen for a person\u2019s specific needs and personality:<\/p>\n
If you feel like everyone\u2019s making demands before you\u2019ve woken up and gotten mentally prepared for the day, getting up 15 minutes earlier for some kind of morning ritual (meditating, reading, journaling, exercising) might be what\u2019s needed.
\nIf you feel as if you\u2019re going nonstop from sun up to sun down and don\u2019t have a minute to yourself, some kind of midday break\u2014even 5 minutes of listening to music\u2014could do a lot to re-energize you for the day.
\nIf you look forward to when everyone\u2019s asleep but you\u2019re too tired to enjoy the quiet, choose night time rituals like a hot bath or going to bed half an hour early to read or watch TV.
\nIn our conversation, Angela talks about needing to get fresh air every day, and I started thinking about how much benefit I would get by building in time to clean off my desk once a day in order to make me feel more focused.
\nFOUR STEPS TO MAKE TIME FOR SELF-CARE
\n1. Build in rest as the catalyst for productivity, not a break from it.
\nToo many people work until they drop, or they view rest and sleep as something to do after work is done. Angela advises us to view rest differently, as an essential tool for productivity. By looking at it this way, we will see it as a necessary part of our schedule, rather than a diversion from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not a machine,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can\u2019t just program yourself to perform at optimal levels 24 hours a day. You have to have rest in there, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean this hour-long nap in the afternoon. It could just be turning off the lights in your classroom for a few minutes after dismissal. Or for many people, they find themselves checking their phones all day long, checking social media, checking email. If you can substitute one or two of those checking times with just silence and stillness, that can make a huge difference in your energy levels and your ability to focus and concentrate.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Streamline your schedule by doing fewer things, better.
\n\u201cSelf-care can\u2019t just be one more thing you add to your plate,\u201d Angela says. \u201cYou have to eliminate things that are not the best and highest use of your time.\u201d Instead of trying to fit in as many things as possible, she says, think about things you can let go of to create space for your higher priority of self-care.<\/p>\n
\u201cProductive people are always analyzing whether something is really necessary, and whether it\u2019s really necessary right now. They\u2019re always re-evaluating their priorities and shifting tasks around, because there\u2019s just no way you\u2019re ever going to have enough hours in the day to do everything that you want and you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is where saying no becomes vital, and one of the best ways to get better at it is to just do it once. \u201cIf you say no once,\u201d Angela says, \u201cyou\u2019ll find that people will stop asking you so many times. They realize, \u2018Oh, okay, this is a person who really protects boundaries around our time, and doesn\u2019t just say yes to be a people pleaser, and isn\u2019t just going to bend over backwards any time I need anything,\u2019 and they will stop asking you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Pair a self-care habit with your regular routine so it becomes automatic.
\n\u201cThis is a really powerful principle that is based heavily on neuroscience,\u201d Angela explains, \u201cthis idea that you can pair a new habit with an existing habit to make it easier to lock that new habit into place. Look for something that you already do automatically, and integrate self-care into that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, when you get in the car in the morning, you put on your favorite song that uplifts and inspires you. Do the same thing, time after time, and it will create this almost Pavlovian kind of response, where as soon as you finish cleaning up dinner, you crave that nice hot bath, or as soon as the kids leave the classroom at the end of the day, you\u2019re craving that 60 seconds of deep breathing to just clear your head and to energize yourself for the rest of the day\u2019s tasks. You\u2019re relying on the strength of an existing habit to make that new habit automatic, and it\u2019s a lot easier than relying on willpower or trying to make a decision..should I do this, or should I not do it? When am I going to take care of myself, when will I have time for this today? You\u2019ll follow through a lot more easily with your self-care goals if it\u2019s part of a habit.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Focus on the habit of the habit, so you\u2019ll value right actions over right results.
\nNew habits are really easy to skip because they\u2019re not well-established, so it\u2019s essential that you prioritize creating and sticking to a habit if you want your self-care to become a regular part of your life.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach time you go back to the old habit, you are strengthening neural pathways in the brain and muscle memory in the body that will make you want to default to that habit again in the future. So breaking the habit \u2018just this once\u2019 won\u2019t hurt you in the sense that it will wreak havoc in that area of your life\u2026it will wreak havoc on your HABITS. Assume that what you\u2019re doing today is what you\u2019ll do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and so on and so forth. This will make you hyperfocused on the choices you\u2019re making now in the moment, rather than assuming your future self will be more disciplined or will have more free time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Jenifer Gonzales As a whole, teachers aren\u2019t great about taking care of themselves. You work too many hours, don\u2019t get enough sleep or exercise, eat too many unhealthy foods, and don\u2019t spend enough time doing things that refresh … Continue reading