During the school year, we as teachers are constantly on the go. Life can sometimes feel like just eating, sleeping, going to school, and repeating the cycle day after day. Often, upcoming holidays hang like a carrot that we are constantly chasing after to find relief from this busy schedule. We cannot catch up on other aspects of our lives that may have been neglected. We find ourselves taking time out of our personal lives to squeeze in lesson planning, grading, responding to parent inquiries, etc. It can be difficult to turn off this multitasking mentality even when summer break rolls around. For some, there may still be some summer break left. On the contrary, others are gearing up for the upcoming marathon…I mean school year. Wherever you’re at, there is much for you to do to make the most of the remainder of your summer break or the beginning of your school year and practice some self-care habits. Let’s learn about 4 ways to return to school refreshed and recharged.

Boundary setting

Something that can have huge benefits for teachers, but is the hardest to do, is to truly disconnect yourself from work. During the school year, we can often find ourselves responding to a student’s homework help question at 11 PM when we’re getting ready for bed or spending time with family. I can recall one summer sitting on the beach answering questions about my current curriculum roadmap to a colleague and feeling like I needed a mental break while on a family vacation! Disconnecting yourself from work obligations and taking a real pause from work can help tremendously in reducing stress and anxiety. Setting boundaries for yourself can help work time to be more productive and personal time more meaningful. Try something simple like deciding to not check your email after 10PM or disabling notifications at that time. You can even set your “working hours” in something like Gmail or Outlook. By doing this, the person messaging you at that time will get notified that it is outside your “work window.” 

Tending relationships

Another meaningful way to spend your time is by reconnecting and catching up with friends. While you’re teaching, you, of course, have a social life. Although, sometimes, spending quality time with friends (or family) doesn’t always happen as often as we would like. I often found myself too busy or exhausted during the week if a friend suggested hanging out on a school night. By the time Friday or the weekend rolled around, the thought of a leisurely day at home was very enticing. Whether it’s getting lunch, going hiking, or taking a day trip, spending time with our friends and family can help us strengthen our relationships and make memories. Tending to our relationships while teaching can make the time we can spend together all the more special! 

Active brain breaks

You may not have been able to get away for vacation this summer, but you can take a mental escape by picking up a good book! While teaching, we spend so much time reading books to enhance our pedagogical knowledge or curriculum. The avid reader out there will always carve out time to pick up a novel or non-fiction book. However, the casual reader thinks they have no time when things get busy. Reading for enjoyment has many benefits including reducing stress, and improving memory and cognitive function. Of course, if reading a book is not your jam, do another brain break you enjoy like reading a magazine or comic, working on a puzzle, etc. Take the time to ‘disappear’ to somewhere else for a while. 

Get creative

While there are more ways you can nurture yourself, the final one I wanted to remind you of is tapping into your creative side. As a kid, I used to enjoy spending hours making bracelets, sewing my own purses, and making and painting pottery. This is something I’ve continued to do to this day. It helps me to de-stress and create something. Not only do I continue to do things I love like baking, but I’ve also taken the time to explore new hobbies like designing, making things on my Cricut machine, and putting in my own kitchen backsplash. Whether you enjoy making your own bath bombs (which I have also obsessively done) or creating a delicious meal you’ve always wanted to try, there are so many different ways to be creative! 

Even though the focus of this blog was on enjoying your school break, all of these habits of self-care absolutely can and should spill over into the school year whenever possible! So go ahead and give yourself permission to take the time to invest in your own wellbeing! Be sure to use these 4 ways to return to school refreshed and recharged

For more tips, tricks, and tools for teaching in and out of the classroom, check out more content on the Teq Talk blog or our YouTube channels OTIS for educators and Tequipment.

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