| Hello Wow! Are we really in the middle of our School year? In some ways it feels like it has flown by but for the most part, it has been long and bumpy and we are amazed to have made it to the middle of this journey. Now, with 3 weeks “off” we have a chance to bring some sense of normal to our wheels of teacher life. Many of our “wheels” are not looking all uniform and pretty like this one. How is yours? Maybe take a moment and draw it, you could be surprised and find it is not as squished as you think, or you could be quite horrified to see the truth in picture form before you. (List of wheel segments at the bottom of the post). As Educators, we so often roll up our sleeves, push past our emotions and physical tiredness and just keep going. But sooner or later whether we believe it or not we are allowing a life pattern that will eventually lead us to burn out, and not everyone is able to bounce back from burnout. We all think it won’t happen to us, until it does. Brene Brown writes about the 3Cs of resilience, being: 1. Courage 2. Compassion 3. Connection So often we believe that courage is played out by forging forwards, denying our wants and setting our faces like flint. Yet if we do not show compassion for ourselves and empathy towards others we will ultimately lose our ability to connect with who we really are. We need to pause long enough and reflect on what is draining us and deliberately choose to do something to inspire feelings of restoration. This takes a huge amount of courage. Try this: for the next 5 days, ask yourselves this question, Which segment needs some attention. Don’t ask with your mind but ask with your body ….ask, ” What does my body crave?” and write down your answer. You may find a basic need like enough sleep is not being met or that you really want to treat yourself to a huge slice of your favourite cake or a movie day or time outdoors … After the 5 days, reflect on what you have written and make a commitment to connect with yourself and work towards meeting that need or want. Invest some time in yourself. ********************************************************************************************************** – each of the coloured segments stands for movement/exercise leisure/lifestyle rest/sleep work/career social contribution relationships finances life purpose environment nutrition mental health emotional health (list courtesy of Meta well being) |
ThriveZim Education 