As I was chatting with my mentor, who has 14 years of teaching under her belt, I realized how difficult it can be to make time for yourself as you progress further into life.  You get married, have kids, go to work, go to your child’s school functions, your own school functions, and you’re somehow supposed to make time for yourself within this juggling act; and I thought it was hard now.  Here is what she has to say about self-care in this profession:

Teaching can be long, grueling, motivating, inspiring, beautiful, messy and will test your strength.  We, teachers, have to bring our A game each and every day for students.  The only way to ensure we are at our best is to take care of ourselves.  Self-care isn’t selfish!  The last 14 years in education have given me many opportunities to practice self-care.  Some of my favorite options are turning off my tech at night, reading books with my babies, the too infrequent pedicure, online retail therapy and spending time with friends and family.  Make time to do the things you love.  Give your all to this career, but don’t lose sight of what you need to stay your best!
-JB

Education Week (2017) says: “The primary way children learn social-emotional skills is through being exposed to adult behavior,” said Patricia Jennings, an associate professor of education at the University of Virginia who studies teacher stress and the social and emotional context of the classroom. “If a teacher doesn’t have a level of social-emotional competence to model the kinds of behaviors that he or she is hoping students adopt, then he or she is sending mixed messages.”

Danna Thomas (2017) also says: “We can’t be there in our fullest capacity to teach kids if we’re not in our fullest capacity ourselves,” she said. “No matter how strong your lesson is, … it could all be perfect, but I personally cannot deliver a lesson to the best of my ability if I don’t get a full night’s rest, if I don’t eat on my lunch break.”

Ahhhh Sundays – a day for rest and relaxation before jumping into the next work week. Many educators, including myself, often think that Sundays are the only days where we can “treat ourselves” as compared to the other six days in a week, which is where the hashtag #Self-CareSunday comes in.  Just search “#selfcaresunday” on twitter and thousands of tweets from people all over the world will come up expressing the need to relax on this single day of the week.

However, what many people, not just educators, realize is that self-care should be happening all the time, not only on Sundays. I’m guilty of it – I spend most of my Sunday relaxing and the other six days of the week running around like a chicken with my head cut off! It takes everything in me not to stay an extra hour after school or to come in each Saturday like I used to, but you have to take time for yourself. Finding things you enjoy that are healthy like exercising, reading, journaling, spending time with family and friends, cooking, whatever it is you enjoy doing!  But, you should be doing the things that contribute to your health and well-being more than one day a week.

In my next few posts, continue to check out my blog to see the ways that I am incorporating self-care into my daily life.  You will also find the benefits of various self-care strategies and how self-care impacts not only yourself, but everyone around you. It is my goal to provide myself and fellow educators the tools and support that they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and well-being that benefits themselves and the people in their lives.