Day 9: Self Care
The last few days, and possibly the last few weeks, I have been working really hard to produce high-quality lessons for my students; to give feedback to every single FlipGrid post, online forum comment, to send emails reminding students that I am here and want to work with them; creating assessments that are open-ended and allows students to share their thinking about the topics we’ve been covering.
I am finding that it is challenging to do this and not to have the person-to-person time to reflect, share and engage in whether what I am doing is the right thing for this current climate.
I have been prioritizing exercise in our local bushland, reading (David Sedaris is my current muse), taking pleasure from listening to my parent’s stories and interactions with my children and husband. I have been trying to keep up with my son as we do circuits in the garden and this week have reached out to some lovely friends and caught up on their news and lives.
Self-care is like the oxygen mask that we may need to wear on an aeroplane – we must ensure that we adjust our own masks before we can be useful and help others in the life journey. How we decide to do that is unique to our interests but also to the environment, moment, time and need we have. It is important that we work to help our students become more aware of how they are looking into themselves and taking the time for analysis, observation and self-care so that we are equipping them with the tools to be self-aware and to know that when they are out of that Green/Thriving zone what that is likely to feel like and look like and have ways to get themselves back to that zone if they can.
As educators, we also need to know what it looks and feels like in our own Green Zones of Mental health so that we can also take the time for self-care. In these pandemic times, we may begin to experience emotions or dream more vivid dreams that can unnerve even the best of us – seeking help from professionals and being aware of taking our time to look after ourselves and our families is super important.
I hope that you have your avenues for self-care and acknowledge when you need to take time for yourself.
A few resources
Green Space is good for Mental Health
My Mental Health website with lots of links for further reading and support.