Today is Monday, and I didn’t go to school today. It can be very difficult to convince myself that I need to stay home from school (I’m sure you can relate to that!). This time, however, the doctor told me to take a day to recover. I imagine mine is a pretty common scenario: I felt the symptoms starting (last Thursday), and figured it was just a minor cold – no big deal, and certainly not a reason to miss school. I started taking good old Tylenol Cold & Flu (severe, of course), and I powered through Thursday and Friday, despite feeling weak and a little bit nauseous here and there. (Again, no reason to panic, right? I’m strong!) Saturday was pretty relaxed and I felt okay. I figured the meds were working and I’d be back to normal soon.
Sunday morning, I woke up underwater.
As soon as I felt that my ears were clogged, I knew it had to be a sinus infection. I also knew that the only way I was getting rid of it was a visit to the doctor and some antibiotics. So, my husband took me to an urgent care center in the middle of my Sunday baking frenzy, and I was promptly diagnosed with a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics. (Side note – it is very important to remember whether you are allergic to certain antibiotics. I will never forget again.) Now, I’m sitting here on Monday evening, gearing up for a COMPLETELY full day tomorrow, and thinking about how I could have avoided this entire situation.
We see and hear the term “self-care” thrown around quite a bit, and especially for those in the teaching profession. Sometimes it’s tips. Sometimes it’s spite. Sometimes it’s a company trying to sell you their product. But I believe that Teacher Self-Care is a real and very important thing, and probably a thing many of us just neglect. I’ve decided that I’m going to stop neglecting it, and I want to share some things I’m trying that work for me, and might work for you too!
Physical Self-Care
Yes, I am separating these suggestions into physical and mental self-care categories, because I think they are both very important and need to be addressed separately.
1. Know your body
How many hours of sleep do you need per night to be fully functional? It took me a long time to realize that if I get too MUCH sleep, I’m actually more ineffective than when I don’t get enough sleep. For me, it’s right around 7 hours. I can work with 6.5 to 7.5, but anywhere outside those parameters and I just feel off during the day, and definitely not as efficient as possible.
How susceptible are you to getting sick? I’m very lucky in that I don’t usually catch illnesses from students. I have a bottle of hand sanitizer on my desk that my students and I use, and I regularly wash my hands during the day as well. I have noticed that in the past few years, I mostly get sinus infections, and that I usually get one in the fall/winter, and one in the spring.
What are your illness warning signs? Knowing that my most likely illness is a sinus infection, I watch out for a sore and/or swollen throat, stuffy nose, and head congestion. I have learned from my doctor that when those symptoms start, I should be using Flonase (or another nasal spray) to help reduce congestion, and something like Mucinex or Tylenol Cold & Flu to address the other symptoms. If it continues into a post-nasal drip and then clogged ears, I know I need antibiotics.
2. See a doctor!
This seems like a no-brainer, but I tend to put off seeing a doctor until it’s unavoidable. In this most recent situation, if I’d gone on Thursday instead of waiting till Sunday, I would already feel better! Yes, it’s inconvenient, and yes, you have to pay money, and yes, you have other things to do. But honestly, your health is more important than anything else you have to do, and it’s taken me a while to realize that.
3. Take the time you need to recover
After the doctor diagnosed my sinus infection, he told me I should stay home Monday and Tuesday, as the antibiotics take 48 hours to kick in. My immediate reaction was laughter – which is not good! If I had gone to school today, I would have been weak and ineffective. My students wouldn’t have gotten much out of my teaching, and I would’ve felt worse at the end of the day. More importantly, this day of rest needed to be just that – a day of rest. Not a day to run errands, or a day to catch up on housework. Not even a day to do “just a little bit” of school work. A legitimate, in my PJs and under a blanket on the couch, cuddled up with the dog, watching Netflix, in and out of sleep day of rest. My body needed to completely stop in order to start recovering.
4. Maintain healthy habits
I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle as much as I can. I strive to eat a balanced diet (although I know I can always eat more vegetables), I exercise 3 times per week, and I try to get enough sleep so that I’m functioning at my highest level. I truly believe that if I didn’t do my best to maintain these habits, I would be sick a lot more often. After all, I am around kids most of the time, busy and moving fast. I need to maintain my body so that it can keep up with my schedule!
Mental Self-Care
Caring for yourself mentally is equally important as caring for yourself physically. Here are some things I’m currently working on to continually maintain my mental health.
1. Give yourself breaks from work
As a teacher, I find that it is too easy to continually work. I have been guilty of “just checking” my school email multiple times a night, or remembering something and having to “real quick” deal with it. I recently deleted the app for my school email from both my cell phone and my personal computer. Then I wondered why I had put them on those devices in the first place. It had become SUCH a habit to check my school email on my phone, and usually at times that it had no business even being in my thoughts. I now try to do all my school-related work before I leave for the day; even if that means staying at school for an extra 30 minutes to wrap things up. If I absolutely have to do work at home, I set specific hours for myself, so that I don’t end up working all night and missing time with my husband.
2. Reflect and release
We deal with so many emotions during the day that I think it’s important to take some time to process them. I have started using a “Year in Pixels” grid that I saw someone post on TPT. Here’s the photo that inspired me:
At the end of every school day, I take a minute to reflect on how this particular day made me feel, and what kind of day it was. Then I choose the corresponding color and fill in that day. It has been very interesting to take a look at the whole picture every once in a while. I’ll have to post the completed grid at the end of this school year!
I recently had the opportunity to attend a local music conference, and during one of the sessions, a presenter recommended journaling. She suggested writing all the positive things that happen in the front of the book, and all the negative things in the back, and to continue writing until they meet. I haven’t tried this yet, but I think it will help remind me of the positive things that happen instead of focusing only on the negative, and give me the opportunity to remember all the details of the things in my career that stand out.
3. Have a work friend (or two)
I have worked at several schools so far in my career, and I have not always had a work friend to chat with, vent to, or otherwise confide in. In my current position, I do have a few close work friends that I feel like I can be myself around – and I think it is SO important to have that. At the very least, it helps your mental stability to speak to another adult when your entire day is spent with kids. If you can talk about something other than school, great! If you can vent to each other without judgement, even better. One of my work friends brought me a breakfast muffin recently, and it made my whole day. So, if you don’t already have one, try to make a work friend to enhance your happiness while you’re at school.
4. Release yourself from guilt
We all have school-related guilt. Maybe you feel you can’t take a day off from school because you’d feel guilty that your students would have a sub. Or you feel like you have to work for hours on end to get those assessments graded because you feel guilty that you haven’t given them back to students yet. Perhaps you feel guilty for not chaperoning that dance because you’re spending some much-needed time with your family. Whatever the case, you can’t feel guilty for putting your health, mental well-being, or family before your work. Many times when we think we fall short, we’re still going above and beyond our responsibilities (because, let’s face it, that’s what teachers do). But you can’t continue to go above and beyond if you don’t take care of yourself first.
Teaching is a tough job. Maintaining your physical and mental health while teaching is an almost impossible job. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” I’ve really taken it to heart recently and tried to make sure that I’m taking care of myself so that I can share my knowledge, my passion, and my happiness with the people around me.
Meg Elder, Beginning Band Teacher & Oboist 