March 2024 – Happy Schools

Do You Look After Yourself

March 28, 2024

Recently I was suffering from “man flu”. Men are always the last to know that they have it. Luckily my gorgeous wife was able to point it out to me. Apparently, “man flu” is when a man has a slight cold but they think it is the end of the world! Now, I am not a believer in “soldiering on”. I believe that when my body is ill I need to rest and let it get better. Consequently, I cancelled several work and social appointments. Now, I could have gone along but it was just not worth it. There was a slight chance I could have infected the person I was meeting (and depending on their air-conditioning system, half of the…

Are You Suffering Decision Fatigue?

March 21, 2024

Stevef

Resilience

Research shows that on average, teachers will make more than 1500 educational decisions every school day. That’s more than four decisions every minute! ‘Decision Fatigue’ is an area currently being researched at Stanford University. Researchers have found that constantly having to make decisions creates fatigue and puts us at risk of making poorer decisions later in the day. As we become more mentally tired, we start acting more impulsively. Author of the book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, Roy Baumeister believes that this explains, “Why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try…

Adrenalin Junkies

March 14, 2024

Stevef

Portfolio

Teachers and other staff in schools often live an action-packed life, typical of the adrenalin junkie. You only know two speeds. You’re either on — full-on — or asleep. The feeling of an adrenalin high is addictive, without realising it you may be trying to be ‘ON’ 100% of the time. You may not be aware that this is how you go through your day. You’re simply moving fast in response to a high-speed life and the expectations of your peers and students. The downside of the adrenalin high is the adrenalin crash! This is the feeling of anti-climax you get when you finish a major project or the restlessness you feel on holidays, the boredom you endure when you…

Fear and How to Do It

March 9, 2024

Stevef

Resilience

A popular saying is ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. The theme behind the saying is common – if you are scared of something, walk up to it, meet it head on and you may be surprised that it’s not as scary as you thought. Remember the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz? He had no courage – until he found that what he’d been afraid of all his life, wasn’t really frightening at all…and he regained his self-esteem. Fear is like furniture and objects in a dark room. We walk into a dark room and start to bump into obstacles and soon we are anxious and stressed because we don’t know what is in our way. We…