Working in a school can be incredibly rewarding—but it also requires a lot of emotional and physical energy. Every day you support students, work with colleagues and respond to the needs of families. We have all heard the safety warning from the flight attendants to put on our own oxygen mask first, before helping others. To keep giving your best to others, it’s important to take care of yourself too.
Working in schools can feel like riding a rollercoaster—rewarding one minute and overwhelming the next. With so many demands, personalities and unpredictable moments, strong emotional self-regulation isn’t just helpful…it’s essential. The ability to stay calm, respond thoughtfully and manage our internal state, directly affects our relationships, decision-making and our well-being.
Staff in schools feel like they are constantly juggling competing priorities—planning, marking, meetings, managing behaviour, dealing with parents and the never-ending to-do list. It can feel overwhelming at times. In her bestselling book, Get Your Sh*t Together, Sarah Knight offers a refreshingly straightforward
Often the effects of stress are compounded by problems of not getting the sleep we require. Our active minds and negative self-talk can keep us awake or wake us during the night. Dr David Morawetz’s self-help program “Sleep Better…Without Drugs” provides a great 4 to 6 week program for overcoming bad sleep habits.
We all lead busy lives and we ALL suffer stress in some form or other at different times. If you feel as though you are becoming overwhelmed, STOP and take some time to prioritise your workload. What is really important?
Working in schools can easily become overwhelming. There is always more you could do — one more email, one more task, one more idea to prepare for tomorrow. The challenge is knowing when to stop. Without boundaries, school work can slowly take over your evenings, weekends and even your holidays.
FoMO and the Hurry Bug are by-products of technology, connectivity and a fast-paced life. FoMO or the Fear Of Missing Out is driven by our most basic desire to feel connected. It is evident in a desire to stay continually connected through social media with what others are doing.
I’m a big fan of the reality TV show, “The Block”. Through watching the program, I realised that I am envious of tradies, especially tilers. At the end of each day a tradie can see the results of their work. A sparky can see the lights they installed, a plumber can count the toilets they have unblocked, a painter can see the walls they have painted and a tiler at the end of their week can see the beautiful bathroom they have produced.
The best book I have ever read on developing people skills is “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen MR Covey. In the book Covey says, “We judge ourselves according to our intentions but we judge other people according to their behaviour and make assumptions about their intentions.”
In “The Book of Awesome”, author Neil Pasricha provides a catalogue of universal little pleasures we all share. The book is intended to help us focus on the many little things that give us pleasure rather than the few things that annoy and frustrate us. In his book Pasricha highlights the things we take for granted. This philosophy applies in schools too!