3 Practices to Support Your End of Year Wellbeing (and the wellbeing of your whole team!)
Have you started counting down the days until summer break yet?
If yes, ohhh do I get it. When I was in the classroom, I always knew in my exhausted brain exactly how many days I had until I could rest.
But here’s the thing: that mentality of pushing, pushing, pushing, and only stopping for a big ol’ break, is a good way to crash and eventually burn out.
Below, find 3 ways to support your wellbeing now. Not 6 weeks from now - NOW.
You deserve that tender care and kindness now, and your STUDENTS deserve a teacher who shows up well-cared for now.
You can do these brief exercises on your own or with members of your teaching team (recommended). Please share with any teachers that may benefit from these!
3 Practices to Support Your End of Year Wellbeing
Continue learning how to build a school culture that prioritizes wellbeing through our burnout prevention resource library. Gain access here.
I.
ACTIVITY: “Stoplight” (1 min.)
This activity helps bring mindfulness to your mental and physical state. Simply knowing and accepting, without judgement, how you are feeling each day is a crucial step towards healing.
To do this activity, ask yourself how you are feeling right now, both mentally and physically.
If you are feeling good, give yourself a green light.
If you are feeling yourself start to wear down, give yourself a yellow light.
If you are at the end of your rope, exhausted, and overwhelmed give yourself a red light.
Do this activity at least once a week, but ideally every day. Do this on your own or start your team meetings this way, so that your teammates can know where you’re at and help you or ask you for help, depending on your current color.
II.
ACTIVITY after “Stoplight”: “What do I need?” (3-5 min.)
If you have time after the stoplight activity, take 3-5 minutes to brainstorm how to get closer to green. Brainstorm on your own or build community by brainstorming with your team.
Green Light: GO! You are ready to kick butt this school day. Tackle your big projects, help out team members that may be feeling less green, and support your students best you can.
Yellow Light: Sloowwww downnnn. You are nearing burnout, which likely means you have too much on your plate. Focus on smaller projects or more straightforward tasks. Ask your team for support. Take things off your to-do list to simplify it. Include rest and play in your day wherever you can. Continue asking and giving yourself what you need until you are back in the green zone.
Red Light: STOP. Staying in this career long-term means acknowledging and taking action to REST when we reach RED. Follow the recommendations for the yellow light, but also consider making those breaks to rest and play longer. Take a mental health day if possible. Create a strong boundary with work after a certain time and on weekends. Say no to all extra requests. Speak with a trusted colleague (who hopefully is a member of administration) about your state of burnout. Continue this until you get back into the yellow zone.
III.
ACTIVITY: “3 Things I’m Grateful For” (<2 min.)
I know, I know. You’ve heard this one a million times. But before you knock it, just remember that regularly practicing gratitude has been proven to help build resilience, prevent burnout, improve sleep quality and emotional regulation and increase feelings of happiness, among other benefits. It’s hard to argue with all that. You can write down the 3 things, count them on your fingers, or share them at the beginning of every meeting. You can also start your day by having students write down 3 things they’re grateful for, or by having three students share with the class.
This is a great habit to start practicing at the end of the year because it can be really sad to say good-bye to a particular class of students! Regularly practicing gratitude can help you sop up all the good moments you are having with them right here in this moment.
2 Quotes from Others
I.
“Give yourself permission to slow down.” - Gabby Bernstein
II.
“Taking care of myself doesn’t mean ‘me first’. It means ‘me too’” - L.R. Knost
1 Question For You
What is an activity that promotes wellbeing that you can introduce to your team this week? It can be one of these or a completely different one!
If you found this week’s 3-2-1 helpful, share it with an educator you care about :)
Until next week,
Emily Hemmingson
Health Coach for Teachers
Founder of The Teacher Wellness Center
Upcoming Wellness Webinar
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