Teaching is an incredibly demanding profession, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally, as well. With long hours, mounting workloads and student-related stress, it’s no wonder that almost 50% of teachers report feeling continuously overwhelmed. That’s why self care is so essential for educators. A consistent self care routine can help teachers stay fresh and motivated, and even make them better at their job. In this article, you’ll learn the importance of self care for teachers, and creative ways to incorporate it into your day-to-day routine. Whether you're looking for ways to manage stress or simply looking for inspiration, you'll find plenty of helpful advice and ideas here. So go ahead and give yourself some love, because it’s time to put your own health and wellbeing first.
Defining Self Care - What is it?
Self care refers to the practice of taking care of your own physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It involves engaging in activities that enhance your health and promote relaxation, such as exercise, meditation, getting enough sleep, and spending time with loved ones. It is an important aspect of maintaining overall health and preventing burnout or exhaustion, especially for teachers. So, what are some things we can do to practise self care?
Managing Stress as a Teacher
Managing stress as a teacher is important because it can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health, job satisfaction, and ability to effectively teach and support your students. When you are able to effectively manage stress, you are better equipped to handle the challenges and demands of the job, maintain positive relationships with colleagues and students, and create a positive learning environment. All of which is vital in our job role as educators.
How Can We Practise Self Care Everyday?
1) Set Boundaries
I have to say I’m rather good with this one, and with a little practise you can be too. It is important to set very clear and rigid boundaries with your time. This way you are free to use that time to do other self care practices. Let's have a look at the best boundaries for a teacher to set.
- Limit emails and contact with colleagues and/or parents. Obviously in our jobs as teachers we will need to speak to other teachers and communicate with parents from time to time, but that doesn’t mean answering emails and phone calls at 11pm at night. Unless it is urgent It's better to answer work related communication during work hours, or set a time for two hours before and after work to deal with it. Holidays are also yours, so don’t feel that you have to answer anyone. Be very clear with parents at the start of the school year that your office hours are XYZ and anything after this may not be responded to straight away. If you are clear with parents and colleagues you will find that they respect your time and wishes.
- Days off / weekends, no school activities. Okay so obviously, sometimes we want to help ourselves out and get ahead with certain tasks, and maybe we complete it at the weekend. But I strongly urge you to change this. Try to take one complete day with no school activities whatsoever and even weekends too, if you can. This way your brain can have a break and a proper rest that it needs in order to deal with the next week and whatever issues it may bring. This is a big help to prevent teacher burnout. Remember you can’t pour from an empty cup.
- Leave on time. This is non negotiable for me. We are paid to be at work 8am - 3pm and so why are we doing more than that making our pay and overall worth go down. We should work contract hours only. Put an alarm on your phone, and when it goes off, you pack up and go home and for the love of god, don’t feel guilty about this. If other teachers want to stay and spend their precious free time at school, let them. But don’t feel bad for sticking to your contract hours. We all need our own time too. Prioritise.
2) Take sick days
Yes, that’s right I said it, and this one is really difficult for me. In fact, I have worked whilst sick many a time and actually once I had to go to hospital straight from school and it turned out I had pneumonia ( in August, in Spain!!! I know right!?!)
I can honestly say I’m working on this one too. But health should ALWAYS COME FIRST. I know subs teaching your class is often more work for you in the long run, but trust me. It’s better than long term damage to your body. You aren’t going to teach forever, but we do need our body forever. TAKE YOUR SICK DAYS.
3) Exercise
Exercise has so many benefits for us. Regular exercise can provide physical benefits such as improved cardiovascular health, muscle strength, joint mobility, and better posture. On the mental side, exercise can help reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood, and increase cognitive function. Additionally, it can help regulate our sleep patterns, leading to improved sleep quantity and quality. Exercise can even help to protect against diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia. Thus, when you engage in physical activity, you are ensuring both physical and mental well-being. It doesn’t have to be for long periods of time either, going running or even walking in the fresh air for 20 minutes each day can see huge health benefits. Equally finding a sport you like and playing twice a week is good too. This way you are socially interacting and physically moving. Win - Win!
4) Ask for help
If you find that you have taken on too much, or you have a very stressful group of students, or if you are just finding life hard to deal with, asking for help and talking to someone can be a big help and there is no shame in it. We can talk to colleagues and you should be able to go to your principal or head teacher and ask for help without feeling bad.
An alternative to that would be speaking with a professional who can teach you coping skills to deal with the emotions and problems you are facing. Mental health plays a big role in our job and if you don’t have a support system or you feel you can’t talk to your team and ask for help, I would strongly suggest finding a different school. Don’t suffer in silence.
5) Do things you enjoy
It doesn’t matter what it is, if it brings you joy do it. Whether that’s sitting on the sofa with chocolates, pizza and watching Netflix, painting, drawing, having a hot bath with candles or dancing around your house in nothing but your underwear. Do anything that makes you happy without feeling any guilt. This is such a quick and easy fix and be sure to appreciate your time spent doing these things and pay attention to your happiness when you are doing them. Something so small and simple.
6) Have a positive mindset
Obviously having a positive outlook on things makes life so much better, and if you really take time to appreciate what you have, your mental health will improve. So even if you have a last minute meeting with parents or your class had a bad day full of drama, train yourself to look at the positive side. Some things that can help you with this are, mediation and training your mind, surrounding yourself with positive quotes and positive people, former personal or class achievements and on really bad days, I like to look back at old photos, letters and drawing from my students. This helps me remember why I got into teaching and the positive, motivational effect I have. Having a positive outlook on life will help you with everything. So ask yourself what are you grateful for? And how can you add positivity to your life?
How to Find Time for Self Care
One of the best ways to find time for self-care is to schedule it into your routine, just like any other appointment or task. This way you ensure you have some time for yourself. You could also try breaking down self-care activities into smaller, more manageable tasks that you can do throughout the day. It's important to prioritise your own well-being and make time for activities that help you feel refreshed and rejuvenated. This in turn will help you with your job and relationships.
Take a few moments right now to think about what you can do to make sure that you are taking care of yourself. What strategies do you want to use to practice self care and prevent burn out?
One thing that I have found amazingly helpful to keep track of my self care journey is this journal. I love the sleek design and the prompts asked to keep you on track and it isn't dated, so if you fall behind you can start again when you can. I highly recommend it!
Click on the journal for more info.
** Please note I may earn a small commission from this link **
We all have our own unique self care journeys, and teachers especially need to prioritise their own physical, emotional, and mental health. With the right knowledge and tools in place, teachers can practice self care with ease – from getting adequate rest, to addressing stress and finding joy in the little things. By putting these ideas into practice, teachers can maintain a healthy sense of self, and be their best for their students and themselves. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Let’s prioritise our wealth and continue this important conversation about self care for teachers.
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So glad I actually clicked on this one. I am a teacher and the thing that I have started doing recently, after years of teaching, is leaving on time. This has honestly helped and made a huge difference in my life, This article is exactly in touch with how teachers who are passionate overwork themselves😍
I am not a teacher but this is good advice for everyone.
What an awesome post on the value and importance of practicing self-care. I'm a professor at Simmons University and I can attest to the importance of setting healthy boundaries, learning to say no and getting exercise. Thanks for the helpful tips!
I personally am not a teacher, but have many friends that are. You all have some of the hardest jobs in the world! And I have seen my friends struggle with many of the things that you talk about. Good job with this list! And quite honestly...many of us non-teachers can benefit from all of these self-care practices, too.