Wellness Blog

        It's no secret that teaching is one of the most stressful jobs one can have and it only seems to get worse with time.  Every year, more and more required tasks seem to be added to our plates on top of everything else.  If you don't know how to manage your stress, it can be detrimental to your teaching abilities, relationships, and even your health.  One of the biggest factors of stress can be improper management of our time and energy.  Below, you will find a few suggestions to help manage the stress and time in your teaching career.         Let go of what you cannot control.   A big factor in many teacher's lives is control.  Personally, I am a control freak (to an extent), and love to plan things out a certain way.  I used to stress when that would change - so much that I would get headaches.  Over time, I learned to let it go because I got nothing from stressing.  If I had a big lesson p...

     By nature, teachers are doers.  Every teacher I know is constantly busy, running from activity to activity.  We love helping others learn and do, even outside of school.  Having a selfless nature can make it incredibly difficult to say no, even if it's something we are not interested in.  Even if we already bit off more than we could chew.      The best way to learn to say no is by shifting your mind-set.  Obviously, this is easier said than done, but above all, we need to remember the importance of our own well-being.  We are absolutely useless to others unless we are able to take care of ourselves.  Even if you want to keep the peace with others who may expect you to take on everything, putting too much on your plate will hurt you in the long run.  When you don't have enough time to complete every task at hand, some things have to suffer, in turn causing your work to be disappointing or not up to par.

As teachers, it can seem like there is never enough time in our day.  We spend all day at work with kids, just to come home to plan, prepare for the next day, then do it all over again.  We barely have enough time to cook dinner and spend time with family let alone take care of ourselves.  This can cause a lot of stress and late nights.  However, if we are not meeting our basic needs such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep, we are useless at home and in the classroom.  Here are some tips to help make sure your basic needs are met:       Plan Your Day: Plan out your day down to the minute (or 15 minutes).  Need time to workout?  Write it in.  Need time to meal prep your lunches for the week?  Write it in.  Need a few minutes of downtime to unwind and play on your phone?  Write it in.  Planning out your day gives you a clear idea of what you can and cannot fit into your life.  It is impossible to over p...