10 Ways to Practice Self Care | Tips for Teachers

Being a teacher can be a hectic and stressful job, so start implementing some of these 10 self care strategies! The best news is that these self care tips for teachers do not cost anything and you can practice them during the school day! 

What is Self Care?

Before we begin, however, I think we have to clear up some things about self-care. You see when a lot of people think about self-care I think what comes to mind is treating yourself, an idea which is great. I'm not saying not to treat yourself, but we're looking at overall wellness, caring for ourselves. 

When we're caring for other people and getting caught up in the daily grind we might go into debt. Not financial debt but sleep debt and joy debt.  We kind of starved for these fundamentals, and when we live that hustle and bustle it makes it really tough to actually nourish ourselves and heal ourselves from some of the stressors we're dealing with. The idea is that these are going to help nourish you as a person so you are in much better spirits, overall and you're promoting wellness you're really caring for yourself. 

#1  Make healthy food choices

Whatever food you bring, let's these food items help nourish and sustain. We're not thinking about that quick frozen meal or something that super low calories. Our bodies need fuel to function and about 1/4 of the calories we eat are needed to function our brain. We want to make sure we're feeding enough of the right foods. This can include healthy snacks such as hummus and carrot sticks, for instance. Easy, quick, and nourishing! Figure out what some healthy snacks are for you! 

It also means fewer treats. I'm not sure about you and your school but it was very common to have treats in our teacher's lounge and sometimes the stuff looks pretty good but if we know that eating that kind of thing is more of an indulgence and not making this an everyday thing is going to lead to long term wellness. A lot of that stuff might just be a sugar crash and that's not going to help you feel your best self-care.

# 2  Avoid Negative Nancies

Basically, those people who just really like to suck the joy out of teaching or out of your own experience are the kind who don't make it as much fun to be around and to be at school. Try to spend less time with the negative nancies and instead focus on people who build you up, celebrate your ideas, care about the profession and being the best teacher they can be. Shifting your focus to be spending more time with these positive examples is going to give you a much better overall picture of the job.

# 3  Take some time to yourself

Really take some time that's quiet just for you to reflect. One thing that I find to be true is when we are caught in that hustle and bustle cycle and always moving to the next thing we don't have time to really step back and reflect on what's happening. Sometimes we don't make the best decisions when we actually don't have time to reflect.

This doesn't have to be an everyday thing but if you give yourself some quiet moments with no phone, other people, and music just you and your thoughts. To really, figure out is life going well right now, how I'm teaching the best thing, am I taking enough care of myself. When you really take the time to reflect and take away the extra noise and distraction that's when you get the clarity to those aha moments. So make sure you're giving yourself the time here and there to just be. Even if it's just five minutes that does matter so really try to prioritize some of that.

#4  Play relaxing music

This can actually happen with your students and it involves plain relaxing music during class. If you search for relaxing music on YouTube there are so many beautiful instrumental tracks put together that are a couple hours long and make really nice calming music. I also enjoyed using some soft jazz in the classroom as well this music no lyrics just nice calm music can be very healing and I think both you and your students will enjoy it.

#5  Keep your desk tidy 

It's very easy for your desk to look like a warzone at the end of a school day. I've been there, but if we can focus on trying to reset your desk as well as keeping fewer items out it leads to more peace of mind. It's very common to have items on your desk that you actually don't use and don't really need out on the desk. When you've got an extra moment during the day take a close look at what's on your desk. Does all of that stuff need to be on top of the desk or could it work in a drawer? It's the concept of a cluttered desk leads to a cluttered mind and a clear desk can lead to a more clear mind. See if there are a few items you can remove from your desk to help promote self-care.

#6  Leave promptly 

Yes, you can stay as late as you want but when you set boundaries about what time you leave, you're saying yes to so many positive experiences that can happen once you leave the classroom. Even if you just start leaving right away after school one day a week start enjoying the benefits of that is a positive step in the right direction. Maybe you have something you need to get done you could stay after school and do it or it could be an enjoyable task when you're at home. It doesn't mean that you would never do work at home and the truth is a lot of things can just wait till tomorrow. Many of the things we're doing that education are not so urgent that they must be done right away that night. Yes, there are moments but it's not every moment. It doesn't hurt too much to say "I'll deal with it with a fresh perspective tomorrow."

# 7  Exercising

 Well at school see if you can squeeze in a little bit of physical activity during the day. Now chances are you're probably on your feet kind of running around the entire day when you have students in your room but there are little moments you might be able to stick in some exercises. For example, when you are making copies you can do lunges, squats, or calf raises. Simple little exercises and it doesn't require any additional time so see if there are little things you can do like a few yoga poses in your room.

#8  Stay hydrated 

Unfortunately, as teachers, we do often have to control the amount of water we're drinking because you probably can't go to the bathroom whenever you want. Try to set a schedule for yourselves to stay as hydrated as possible within that framework based upon when you can take breaks trying to stay hydrated. Especially if you're talking a lot and interacting with other students it's really important to help keep your energy up, keep you feeling your best. This really promotes wellness in a lot of different areas of life. When teaching focus more on water you will benefit from this.

#9 Practice deep breathing 

Whether it's dealing with an encounter with a challenging student or when you got an angry parent email. These things can really cause us to be in a more negative state and can cause us to feel stressed. When we feel stressed there are lots of physical signs in our bodies. Taking the time to breathe deeply and take a step back can be very helpful. A very simple breathing strategy focus on taking a deep breath in as you count to 10 hold the breath for a few moments and then exhale the breath. Practicing that a couple of times a day honestly can work wonders for stress levels. This can be a great strategy to help you stay calm and level-headed and not feel that physical stress as much in some of those tough situations.

#10  Self-care activities for your spirit

Self-care activities for your spirit are things that can give your soul a lift and enrich your life. This can be so different for everyone.

I know that by just cutting some beautiful roses or lavender from my garden and arranging them in a vase for my room, helps give me such a wonderful joyful lift to my spirit.

What lifts your spirits? It might be listening to a favorite song and singing out loud to the words or just lighting a scented candle. Give it a try!

In the comments, how do you choose to practice self-care as a teacher?