Worth a Listen, Look or Read #18 — Take Time For Yourself
Jeff Ikler here for Kirsten Richert with our weekly “Getting Unstuck” mini feature: Here in about five minutes, we extend the idea of this week’s podcast with some related content that we feel is definitely “Worth a Listen, Look or Read.”
“I’m 32-years old, sitting at my kitchen table, crying like a baby. We’re a month into the school year, and I feel like quitting. Does the administration know what we’re going through?”
The idea
This week I talked with Dr. Daisy Morales, the new Superintendent of the Live Oak School District in Santa Cruz, CA. Daisy’s big concern coming into the district on Day 1 wasn’t rectifying the “lost learning” associated with managing classrooms in a virtual or hybrid environment. Her concern was with the wellness of her faculty and staff, so she went on a listening tour to find out what was on people’s minds. Ask questions, listen, and eat some chips and salsa. And ask more questions, listen some more, and, OK, have more chips and salsa. https://bit.ly/2Xzi4ZT
Taking the idea deeper
One of the ways Daisy prepared for these meetings was to read n2y’s excellent, 27-page white paper, “Social and Emotional Wellness for Teachers and Administrators.” Download it here. Full disclosure, I don’t benefit by referencing this publication except emotionally by sharing it, OK?
The guide contains the expected advice of “Drink enough water,” “Get adequate sleep,” “Exercise regularly,” and “Eat a nutrient-rich, balanced diet.” But it also contains a number of real pearls, which we might not initially associate with wellness and self-care. Here are three of them that deserve some study:
• “Know when to say no” – We educators are notoriously bad at doing this because we’re in the very human enterprise of educating kids. But the paper’s theme is wellness starts with self-care. “So, if it’s not required or desired, let it go.” This may not be the best time to propose new initiatives or wildly raise your hand to volunteer for one.
• “Declutter” – As a Type A organizer – hey, I rearrange the dishes after my wife puts them in the dishwasher – I loved this one. We’re all trying to manage a ton of details amid this pandemic, so by decluttering our workspace, we’re helping to keep focus. If whatever that thing is on your desk or in your office isn’t critical, get rid of it. It’s less to see, less to manage, less to distract us from what’s really important: whatever is sitting across from us.
• “Create a Social and Emotional Wellness Team” – The key word here may just be “team.” Schooling was incredibly isolating last year, but even if you’re now back in a face-to-face environment, the pressures of managing a multiple class day, or of leading a school or district has always been isolating. Building a cross-stakeholder team helps solidify relationships, which is something most of us humans crave.
Putting the idea to work
Besides reading the guide, here a couple of quick activities that will get you thinking about what change you might want to undertake to provide better self-care.
The Therapist Aid Self-Care Assessment This Self-Care Assessment asks you to think about how frequently, or how well, you are performing various self-care activities. Activities are divided into five categories: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and professional. (No cost to download.)
Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time A classic from the Harvard Business Review, this article asks us to stop trying to manage our time, and instead, manage our energy. “Time is a finite resource, but energy is different. It has four wellsprings—the body, emotions, mind, and spirit—and in each, it can be systematically expanded and renewed.” (No subscription needed.)
This important talk of self-care reminded me of a TV commercial that started in 1971 and has endured now for 50 years. L’Oréal Paris employed the following advertising tagline when explaining why its haircare products cost more than other brands: “We’re Worth It.”
And so are you.