How to Optimize Your Self-Care this Winter Break

During my time teaching, winter break often turned into a time to VEG OUT—and in speaking to teachers and clients, I’ve come to find I’m not alone.

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with that! And don’t get me wrong, it’s very important to focus on quality rest during these breaks.

But here was the big old downside to my two weeks of vegging:

The end of break would come all too soon, and jumping back into a full day of teaching would feel like getting ice water poured over my head—a total shock to the system!

I would quickly fall back to feeling exhausted, just like I had been before break.

My big mistake: I was ONLY paying attention to rest. And in doing that I was overlooking my other self-care needs.

Lucky for us, a little intentionality and a few key questions can help you avoid my mistake, and find the self-care plan that will help you feel balanced and reinvigorate you through winter break and into the new year!

Here are those self-care reflection questions:

Tune into how you’re feeling physically and ask:

What do you need to do with your nutrition to stay or become physically balanced this break?

What do you need to do with your physical activity to stay or become balanced this break?

What do you need to do to stay or feel more rested this winter break?

Tune into how you’re feeling mentally and ask:

What do you need to do to feel less stressed and more relaxed over break?

What is one thing you can do to prioritize relationships this break?

What is one thing you can do for your spiritual wellness this break?

What is one thing you can do for creative expression this break?

LAST STEP! Look at all your answers above and then answer below:

What are the three things you have written above that you most want to prioritize this break?

Notice that at the end of this activity, you should only have three self-care activities to focus on. I’m a big believer in staying focused on just a few things until you’ve nailed them, and to build from there. I recommend writing those three focuses down and putting them in a spot you will see daily.

I hope this activity helps you reflect on the best activities to get you back into balance this break!

Want to stay accountable with your self-care on the daily? Make sure to grab a copy of The Healthy Teacher Self-Care Planner here.