Inside: If you think you’re burning out as a teacher it’s so important to put yourself first and support your wellbeing by taking a self-care day. Find out how.
Teachers often don’t put themselves first and fall into the trap of getting rundown and stressed. If you’re not implementing routine habits of self-care maybe you need to take a self-care day to boost your wellbeing.
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What is a Self-care day?
This question really answers itself.
Taking a self-care day is one that is dedicated to your own personal self-care practices in the effort to show self-love and look after your own wellbeing. A day dedicated to you!
The International Self-care Foundation has developed the Seven Pillars of Self-care to help guide us in our efforts of self-care. The site explains in detail the areas that we can focus on to help develop our wellbeing on our dedicated self-care day – for example; Mental Wellbeing & Self-awareness, Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Risk Avoidance & Good Hygiene etc.
Make a change! Implement some routine self-care into your day with this FREE fun Self-Care Calendar. Get some easy ideas you can add to your week here:
When should you take a self-care day?
If you’re asking yourself when you should take a self-care day, I can only offer advice from where I have been on my own personal wellness journey.
I recommend listening to your body and know your own personal limits.
So when I say know your own limits What do I mean?
This is where you will need to be intuitive, identify the signals your body is giving you and listen to it! This is explained really well in the book Self-care for Teachers that is a must-read.
Listen to your body!
Have you ever felt extremely tired? You come home from work and you are just exhausted. You know, the days you just can’t drag yourself off the lounge?
Or have you experienced times of regularly getting sick?
Or does your brain ever feel foggy and you just can’t think clearly?
Sometimes it’s just when you slip into the bog of negativity and seem to wallow in either self-petty or just hang with the ‘nay-sayers.’
Also, when you start to get snappy at home with your loved ones, it’s time.
All of these are signals that your body is trying to tell you that enough is enough!
Your body is saying in its own way that you must rest. This is when you are in need of a self-care day – some personal downtime without the guilt!
Why do teachers need self-care days?
You know what it’s like as a teacher – everyone else comes first. We seem to be good at putting ourselves last. But often your body will pay for it; either by extreme exhaustion, illness, depression or anxiety and poor sleep. Finally, burnout, if left unattended for too long. In-all your wellbeing is suffering.
This is the time to start showing yourself some self-love.
Don’t keep dragging yourself to school and say you’ll do something on the school holidays.
I’ve got to be honest, this is what I did. I continued to push through, day-after-day, thinking I’d be ok.
But I wasn’t.
I made these mistakes of not taking care of myself when my body was screaming out for attention and my health has suffered.
But I don’t want you to have to experience this. I want you to thrive in the profession and continue to love it.
To do this, you WILL need to listen to your body and take some drastic action of self-love when it needs it.
I’m learning my lesson and I want to share with you my greatest tip…
Prioritise yourself before it’s too late and take a self-care day.
You might only need one day per term, plus the small ‘habits of self-care that are woven into your daily routines’, that Angela Watson from The Cornerstone for Teachers describes.
I also agree with this, and I recommend you also implement some daily strategies of self-care to stop the effects of burnout. Read here for some ideas: 8 Simple Habits of Self-care details.
Help yourself change into a healthier you! Get your FREE Self-Care Calendar here:
To some, it might sound very indulgent to take a self-care day.
But, it’s not.
As a teacher, you would understand that by the time you are feeling run down and depleted in energy, you have probably been missing out in the self-care department for quite a while.
And if these habits get forgotten in the busy-ness of every teaching day, you will need to take more radical action.
Self-care day for Teacher Wellbeing
Think of a self-care day like self-preservation. Especially needed when you are committed to serving others.
Psychology Today in their article says self-care is needed for us to be healthy, fit and resilient.
So, if you don’t take this regular time to look after yourself, you’re likely to burnout, which Dr Matthew Allen describes in his informative book Self-care for Teachers.
It’s real, my friends.
How do you take a self-care day?
This may sound simple, but before you take a self-care day, you need to firstly, prepare for it.
Don’t let ill-health sneak up on you.
Firstly, choose the best day that you can to plan for a supply or sub teacher and then leave your planning on your desk ready for them.
Next, totally clear your schedule for the day. The main idea for the day is to release yourself of all appointments and be free to make the day about you.
A good recommendation on a self-care day is to learn to downshift and DON’T use the time for catching up on your household jobs.
Often this can be the trap when you are finally at home. But, please refrain from this and make YOURSELF the priority for the day.
What do you do on a self-care day?
On your self-care day, start by thinking about how you will downshift and SLOW DOWN.
I mention a variety of activities in my post that can help you to wind down and destress, for example; take a hot bath, read a relaxing book for enjoyment or sip a quiet cup of tea or even just to get out into nature for some gardening or ride your bike.
Just something simple.
It could be just going outside and sitting in the sun. This activity is so powerful and relaxing, because the sun has such therapeutic properties.
Ellen from Self-care for Teachers gives some great ideas for downshifting in the article from ABC Life called Self-care Tips for Teachers to Avoid Burnout.
Whatever it is, make sure it’s something to clear your mind and help you to slow down.
In your self-care day, you could also include some activities to treat or pamper yourself.
Self-care is not necessarily pampering, but we all need a bit of indulging. This could mean something different to everyone too.
Pampering could take the form of a massage or a do at-home manicure or pedicure; moisturising your whole body or learning some stretching or yoga moves from Youtube.
There are so many different ideas for treating yourself.
Positive Discipline describes activities for self-care for teachers as things that feed your heart, your mind, your soul and your body.
Let your own body tell you what it needs.
You can use some of the easy ideas for self-care in this fun CALENDAR to colour and relax. You are worth it!
These types of activities will give you rest and also energise you at the same time, ready for the next day or week ahead.
Teaching is a tremendously demanding job. Don’t be like me and I’m sure many other teachers, and let it impact your health and lead to burnout.
Take regular self-care days for teacher wellbeing and feel the difference.
Don’t wait until the holidays to recover from the term!
Additional Self-Care Resources
Here is a link to some extensive self-care resources for teachers at Mindful Teachers, which I thought would be helpful for you.
Check out this book Self-Care for Teachers by Dr Matthew Allen, that I highly recommend reading.
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Remember you are worth it!
Michelle xx
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