4 Ways to Stay Sane as a Teacher
Teaching is awesome. But teaching is hard - I will be the first to admit it. Though I thoroughly enjoy going to school every day and welcome the challenges that teaching brings, there have been times when my mental health has suffered because I was not intentional about creating balance and space for myself in my profession. I have had straight-up breakdowns. Not pretty. I know that this is not something that is isolated to me. I have many friends in the teaching profession who tell me the same thing.
We all have bad days. We all have times when we feel overwhelmed. As teachers, we feel that our students’ needs come first, but there are some steps we can take to ensure that we don’t hurt ourselves in the process. A burned out teacher is no help to anyone. They should have had a class on that in teacher’s college, but I had to learn that the hard way.
Teaching is a unique profession because much of the work happens outside of school hours. When we are in school, teachers are interacting and teaching students. The work done to prepare everything happens outside of that time because it’s impossible to do it during instructional time.
Here are four ways you can stay sane-ish as a teacher. After all, every great teacher has a little crazy in them, right?
Plan Ahead
Use that prep time to it’s full advantage and plan ahead! I try to get all of my plans for the following week completed every Thursday so that I can truly enjoy and recover through the weekend. This has reduced my Sunday afternoon anxiety by such a degree, that I’m never going back! This is especially true now that I have to submit detailed lesson plans every week.
Planning ahead also affects my meals! Making my lunches for the week has reduced my morning stress, and planning the meals I’m making at home in the evening reduces the stress of not knowing what to cook and saves us money since we have a plan in place and aren’t going out to eat as often.
Have Hobbies
Do things for you! I enjoy Pilates and getting outdoors as much as I can to rejuvenate and ready myself for a new day of teaching. I take time to read and pray and to do things I enjoy like crocheting, photography, and writing! Take time to do the things that you enjoy!
Create Boundaries
It is so easy to let work seep into every facet of our beings. When we are so passionate about what we do, this is especially tempting. It is important, however, to create boundaries. Here are a few of my boundaries:
1) Office Hours
I learned pretty quickly that if I allowed myself to be available at all times, not only was it setting me up for a lot to deal with, but people got upset really quickly if I wasn’t at their beckoned call. I couldn’t live like that anymore. I told everyone that after a certain time (you can choose whatever time you want, but I said I would not respond after 7pm), I was not available. At all. I would physically put away my devices so I would not be tempted to check email or phone calls, and guess what? No one minded. And when they realized it was past 7, they would either leave me a message or wait until the next day. Turns out nothing was ever so pressing. I also have set times at school when students can come to me for extra help. Three days a week I stay later and they know this.
2) Leave Work at Work
Gasp. I know. Not bringing work home? I make a conscious decision every day to leave the rest of my work at work. It’s hard to do, sometimes, but I’m more productive when I do. I have 95 students and am prompt in giving work back, but I rarely bring anything home to work on. There has been an odd occasion when I’ve had to, of course, but I refuse to make it a habit.
3) Close Your Door
If you have a prep period, you have pure gold. Use. It. Wisely. I know some people who close and lock their doors and turn out their lights during their prep period so that no one knows they are in there doing amazing things. Using your prep period to its full extent is going to be key for doing less work before or after school. You can socialize later.
Take Time to Rest
Rest is so important. And I’m not talking about leisurely grading. I mean real rest where we even stop thinking about our classrooms and kiddos. For some, that may mean physically getting away. For others, being a homebody over the weekend is necessary. But please rest. Your body and mind will thank you. And so will your students, because you will be the best teacher you could be!
How do you keep sane as a teacher? Share some of your strategies in the comments section below! :)
