5 Thoughts on Self Care for Educators

I'm Brian Martin. I'm a second grade teacher who find so much joy and fulfillment in what I do. Being in the classroom for almost 20 years, I know all about the time, effort and energy that you are continuously pouring into those you serve. That's why each week, I'm going to bring you an inspiring message to give you a little joy, and help fill your cup back up. Thank you for being here, and welcome to the teaching champions podcast. What's going on everybody. I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. The first week of November is in the books. And one of my favorite things about this time of year is basketball at the high school, the collegiate and professional levels, gets up and into full swing. And where I live, I'm extremely lucky because St. Bonaventure University is right in my backyard. So since I was five years old, I've been going to the games and watching great division one college basketball. And what's really cool is, we're a small community, and one of the focal points of our community is the men's basketball team. So a lot of my students go to the games, and they get really psyched up about the team and the players. Well, St. Bonaventure had their first preseason game of the season this past Thursday night. And I finished watching the game on ESPN plus, and I get a text from a friend. And they sent me a link to one of my students that was at the game. And he was picked to participate in the big shoe shootout. And what happens is, two kids go against each other, they start at one end of the basketball court, and they raced down to the other end and get a basketball and try and make a layup along the way, they have to stop and they have to put on a jersey that would fit a player that is well over six feet tall, they have to put on shorts that are long enough to pass his pants. And then they finally have to put on shoes that are ginormous. And they have to do all of this before they get the ball and try to score. It's super cute. And I sat there, and I watched my young friend race down the court, throw on the Jersey that hung to his knees, throw on these long shorts, and then the shoes and make his way to the other end where he drained the shop. And I was so fired up. Now, fast forward to Friday. And as I'm greeting the students at the doorway, what are the first words out of this young man's mouth, he starts telling me about this. And I told him to hold up, I got something even better. I whip out my phone, and I bring up the video. And he's smiling, and all the students gather around the phone. And as he's throwing on the Jersey, and making his way down the court, we all start chanting his name. And when he makes the shot, we all throw our hands up in the air. And we all start screaming, there was so much joy in the room. We invited the principal now to watch it. We showed the phys ed teacher, we were just showing everybody. And every single time the students acted like it was the first time that they saw the video, every single time they started chanting this young man's name. And they were throwing up their hands in the air when they saw him make that shot. And let me tell you seeing that joy that they have for their classmates, and the way that they celebrate him every single time. It was so special. It was one of those moments where as an educator, you just step back and soak it all in all of that goodness. And you just been because you're so proud of your champions. We need those moments. And that leads me into today's episode where I want to dive into self care. And I was doing some research for this episode. And I wanted to see what other educators were doing for their own self care. So I put it out on Twitter. And the responses I got were eye opening and it really shaped the direction which I'm taking the podcast today. There are a ton of great tips that educators drop from starting your day off with meditations and affirmations, getting fresh air walks, being out in nature, setting boundaries, journaling, cuddling with your pet, turning off the email, disconnecting, diving into a hobby, drinking water, eating healthy, exercising, setting boundaries, knowing when to say no, utilizing those personal days, and so much more. But there are also other responses that really opened my eyes. And several people voiced that they were tired a hearing about self care, that it is something that's been pushed too hard this year, that it doesn't solve the true problems facing the education field. And in some ways, people felt it goes along the lines of toxic positivity, almost to the point that educators feel offended by this. And to be honest, I wasn't expecting those responses. But it made me think, and I know, there are many educators that would agree with these comments. So as I thought about them, it really changed the way I'm going to approach this episode. So I'm taking it in a little different direction. And then might be more of a place of mindsets about self care, and how we approach the day. And I want to say that these are just my thoughts and what works for me. And trust me when I say I'm no Tony Robbins. And I'll never claim to be, what works for me, may very well not work for you. And my hope in saying these is that you can take some time and think about your own life. Think about what's working for you, or maybe what's not working for you. And hopefully, a thought, or a statement can help trigger something in your own mind that you can use in the future. We're all in different places in our lives. We have different struggles, we have different challenges. We have different coping mechanisms, you know yourself the best, so be aware of what helps you. And before I get into what works for me, I just want to acknowledge that there are problems in the educational field, the amount of educators who feel high levels of stress is through the roof, teachers are leaving the field in droves. So there needs to be some systematic changes to create a more sustainable environment. But that's not going to happen overnight. And I firmly believe we want to create the world the best we can from the inside out. And not from the outside in. Here are five thoughts. Now it was six, but someone said for the love of goodness, do not tell them to do yoga or breathing. So yoga by Adrian was crossed off the list. But these are just a few that work for me. And more importantly, think about what works for you. At the top of the list is that we need to remember that we're not martyrs. You didn't get into this field, if you didn't have a huge heart, and a deep passion to want to give back and make an impact in the lives of others. We've all seen the movies where the educator swoops in and is the hero and saves the students. But often, in the movies, those teachers do this at a great personal sacrifice. And number one, their movies. And number two, always remember that you're so much more than just a teacher teachings an amazing feel. Then Trinsic rewards of seeing students light up to see them learn to see them discover who they are, to see them succeed and help them on their journey is magical. But at the end of the day, this is a job and you wear so many other hats. And when it's time to wear the teacher hat. Hopefully, we can embrace that. And when it's time to take that hat off and put on one of the many other hats you wear. Take that teaching hat off, and brace those other roles you have in your life. We can love this profession. We can make a difference. But we don't have to, nor should we sacrifice ourselves for and this leads me into my second thought, which is give yourself permission to wear those other hats. society puts a heavy burden on the expectations that are placed Some teachers, and all too often, we take those expectations, and we magnify them on ourselves. How often do we feel as if we are failing, if we're not giving every last bit of who we are to trying to make that difference? We have to move past that though, we have to give ourselves permission to set those boundaries, and walk away. Even if things aren't perfect. You know, I was in school this Friday, it was a little after for school gets out at 250 for us, and I was making photocopies in the copyright. And another teacher was in there. And we were talking about how we could spend the whole weekend in school, and there would still be more things for us to do. It's amazing, it's never ending. And the expectations that are placed on us are so high, and we place even higher expectations on our own selves. So you need to make sure to remind yourself that you can walk away at the end of the day, that you can give yourself permission not to be perfect, to not have the perfect lessons, to not have to go above and beyond over and over again, to give yourself permission to embrace the other roles in your life. Because you're not a martyr. And teaching is only a piece of who you are. And those other roles deserve attention as well. And with permission comes grace. It's something that you need to show yourself. There are times when we may feel like we're doing amazing professionally, but our personal life is struggling. And then there are times when our personal life has a great flow to it. And it feels as if we're struggling professionally, you're juggling so many different things. So make sure that you're taking time to show yourself that grace that you deserve, we're never going to be perfect to everything. Our days are filled with ups and downs, twists and turns, successes and failures. And the most important part is that you show up, and you give what you can that day, and you stay true to who you are. So be your own best friend, shut down that inner critic. Give yourself a few more compliments, and a few less critiques. Another key thing that I always remind myself is at school, I'm replaceable. Now, my ego loves to believe that there is no way that my school can manage without me that it would shut down and things would never be the same. But that's so far from the truth. I've taught it to schools in my career. I taught it the first school for over a decade, the faculty and staff, the champions there, they were all amazing. And I ended up transferring to the school across town. In the following year, I had a chance to go back to my original school for a pep rally. And while I was there, I saw some of my former students and former colleagues. And you know what I also saw a school that was thriving, a school that hadn't missed a beat since I left. In fact, they are probably doing even better without me. And that's not always easy to hear. It's not always what we want to hear. But ultimately, we're going to be replaced at school, and the school is going to be just fine. The one place where we are irreplaceable though, is in our homes. So martyr syndrome pops up and guilt start sliding in, remind yourself, they can replace you at school, but they can't replace you in your home. And last, I just want to say focus on the things that you can control. We can control the policies that are put in place. We can't control what happens to our students when they're not in school. We can't control what our colleagues do or say. But we can control how we show up for the day. We can control how we celebrate our students. We can control how we respond to those around us. We can control the voices we listen to, and the voices that we allow in our headspace. There's so many things that we can control that if we focus on these is going to greatly impact our debt. These are just a few of my thoughts, a few perspectives that I use to help myself out and I hope they sparked a few things and you Now that they gave you something to think about, the outside world is always going to throw a lot at us. So let's focus on creating our world from the inside out. Thank you for being part of the teaching champions community, we support we encourage we lift each other up. If you think someone will benefit from this episode, I would truly be grateful if you would share. Also, if you could subscribe, review or leave a rating at helps more educators see the podcast. And always remember, whether you're from rural America to urban America, to Canada, to Spain to Bahrain, we're all on that same team. We're all on that same mission. And we're always better together. And my challenge for you this week, is the thing about this story that I'm about to share some Chicken Soup for the Soul 20th anniversary edition, and it's about advice from an 85 year old woman. And as I read it, think of your 85 year old self. What advice would you give to you? Nadine stare an 85 year old woman from Louisville, Kentucky was asked how would you have lived your life differently? If you had a chance? If I had my life to live over again, I dare to make more mistakes. Next time. I'd relax. I'd limber up. I'd be sillier than I've been this trip, I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but fewer imaginary ones. You see, I'm one of those people who was sensible and saying hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had moments. If I had to do it over again. I'd have more of them. In fact, I tried to have nothing else just moments, one after another. Instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I could do it again. I travel lighter than I have. If I had to live my life over. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry go rounds. I would pick more daisies what would your 85 year old self tell you today? Keep being amazing, my friends. And as we go on to the week may step into your strength may step into your shine. And let's build our champions up. Have a great week everybody