Self Care Isn't Selfish
Does your day begin as soon as your alarm goes off? Does your day end with a mindless TV show to relax for the first time all day?
If you are anything like me, the second your feet hit the floor your day begins. In our house our motto seems to be, we hit the ground running! Both my husband and I have full time jobs, our daughter is in Kindergarten and goes to before and after school care, and my son goes to daycare. There is breakfast to be made and eaten, lunches to be packed, and we are all out of the house by 7:20am. Like most of you, my school day begins before the bell rings and the students arrive. Is my classroom ready for 20 second graders? Did I make all the photocopies I need? Are my anchor charts ready and easily accessible? A teachers day is packed with laughs and discipline, applying band-aids and applying rigor, keeping students moving and keeping students calm, and everything in between. When the bell rings at the end of school day our day is not over. And once we are home, our day is not over either. Trying to balance work life, home life, and children (if you have any) leaves little room for self-care. The stresses of life can make self-care harder. So what can we do?
What is self-care? The definition of self-care is any action that you use to improve your health and well-being. Of course everyone likes a spa day or sleeping late, or even a fancy dinner. Every profession benefits from self-care, but for teachers it is so much more. Self-care can turn stress around. People in caregiving positions like teachers, for example, often find it easier to tell others to take care of others and not themselves. Because educators are encouraged to focus so much energy on others and so little on themselves, self-care is necessary for teachers to maintain good mental health.
It is important to incorporate self-care into your daily routine, without rearranging your already hectic schedule. Self-care is NOT self indulgence. Unlike self-care, self-indulgent activities don’t have lasting benefits. While self-care helps promote long-term health, self-indulgent habits (like marathon watching TV or eating ice cream for dinner) do not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s ok to grab that ice coffee on your way to work, just try to balance it with a healthy meal later.
Here are some self-care ideas:
*packing a healthy lunch
*waking up a little earlier for mindful yoga, a walk with your dog, or a run a treadmill
*plan a 10 minute break in your day to decompress yourself…. For me it is the ride home with the windows down and music playing!
*journaling
*connecting with a loved one
*read a good book
*surprise yourself with a gift every once in a while!
*light an aromatherapy candle.
But most importantly, find time for yourself and find time to do things that you love!
I loved this article and self care is HUGE! Many of us just keep going day to day without thinking about this very thing and that is why so many of us burn ourselves out...especially those with kids at home. We need to balance everything in life with our day to day to make it easier on us, especially our mental health. I think many younger people like myself don't put self care into a perspective worth capturing until we get older but the sooner we can balance home life, our jobs and other daily activities with breaks in-between will only benefit us that much more.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. I have seen a big movement recently about self care and how it does not mean your are being selfish. Honestly, I struggled with this alot since becoming a mother. I have three kids and a full time job and carving out some time for myself is not only difficult, but also ofen leaves me with a little bit of "mom guilt." The number one thing I like to do for myself is exercise, so I try daily to get at least 30 minutes of exercise in, even if that means I'm not spending that time with my kids. It is so important to be healthy both in body and in mind and if you arent then you can't really show up 100% for your kids or anything else that's important in your life.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post and something we can all reflect on. Self care is something that as a teacher can be especially hard. It always feels like there is more you can be doing for your students. Exercising has always been my way of self-care and helps to clear my heard and eliminate stress. It does take a lot of planning to make sure I can fit it in around my other responsibilities (family, job, school) but I am always glad when I do.
ReplyDeleteSelf care is huge and unfortunately not a lot of teachers are able to do it. I feel like it's very difficult to practice self care when you can't find the time to do it. Once I get ahead of work I feel like it's something I can practice but getting ahead is nearly impossible when things are constantly stacked on you and there's not enough time in the day when you just feel so exhausted. It's a great goal to have and one I definitely want to be better about practicing. Exercise use to be a great escape from the day but it's so hard to put back into practice with such a busy schedule. I love this topic and it has definitely made me think about the things I need to reflect on in order to practice self care.
ReplyDeleteSuch an important topic, and something I'm trying to get better at myself. I am someone who loves to be busy and loves to be involved in my community. This often leaves me with little free time to myself. But especially as a teacher where we give so much to our students- our energy, our patience, our love- it is important that we are taking care of ourselves first. Over the summer, I am a summer camp director and I always stress to my staff the importance of self-care. I have them think of a plane ride and the safety demo at the beginning. The flight attendants always tell you that in the case of an emergency, you should put your oxygen mask on first, before helping those around you. If you are not taking care of yourself, how are you going to be able to take care of your little campers or students?
ReplyDeleteThis article is a very good reminder and a very important topic. As it's past 8pm and I'm still at work I could use some! I like how you talked about incorporating it into our daily routines. I think we often think of self care as something we only do when we are already completely stressed out. We need to keep up with self care so we don't get to that point. I think it's also a very important lesson to model for our students. We had our second graders fill out a survey that asks them questions about themselves so they can identify what they do and don't like about learning in the classroom and when they find themselves stressed. I think it's important that we learn at a young age what works for us and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! My biggest self-care practice is getting up early to exercise before school. Its a way for me to start my day off right. (and if I have a bad today, there is nothing an after school run can't fix!) I really like the idea of connecting with a loved one. I never really think about reaching out to friends/family I haven't talked to in a while as a way to boost your mood. Great idea!
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