Resilience – Page 2 – Happy Schools

Start Well – Finish Well

January 18, 2024

Working in schools can be demanding. Each year it seems that more is expected of you than ever before. Competing demands result in having too much to do and not enough time to do it. It is the cumulative effect of workload and insidious day-to-day sources of stress and not the less frequent intense sources of stress, which staff in schools are most concerned about. Most people start the year with renewed energy, focus and vigour. They have enjoyed a well-earned break and are ready for another challenging year. Establishing systems and good habits are essential at this time of the year. The start of a new school year should set the tone for the rest of the year. Now…

Distract Yourself to Reduce Anxious Thoughts

December 7, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

Almost everyone feels anxious at some point in their lives. For some people, anxiety occurs regularly, even daily. Research has shown that distracting yourself from feelings of anxiety can help to curb them. Actively distracting yourself takes your mind off of the anxiety you are experiencing. For this technique to be most effective, you need to choose to distract yourself, rather than someone else distracting you. What is a distraction strategy? A distraction strategy is simply an activity that takes your mind off your current emotions. Instead of putting your energy into your worries and increasing your anxiety, you can focus on other things instead to give your mind and body time to calm down. It can be difficult to…

What Are You Grateful For?

November 30, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

I recently asked my doctor how I was going after he had run a series of blood tests on me. He said, “Ken, if I was you, I would be grateful for every day I am alive.” There’s an endorsement if ever there was one. He was joking, of course. But, surely that is good advice for all of us. I think that too many of us spend too much of our time focusing on what is wrong in our lives and what could go wrong in the future. Though let me be quick to say that if you are presently dealing with very tough life circumstances, it can often be very hard to find anything to be grateful for.…

How to End Self-Critical Thoughts (Part 2)

November 23, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

In part 1 last week, we recognised that at times we can be our own harshest critic. Our expectations can be unrealistic and we can take it to heart when things don’t work out as we had planned. In responding to these self-critical thoughts we looked at the first two steps of the 4 N process. NOTICE the Thought – dump what is going on in your brain onto paper. NORMALIZE the Thought – negative thoughts are normal in the human brain. NEUTRALIZE the Thought Neutralizing is where we’re trying to just get to the facts of the situation. We are taking the punch or power out of the circumstance. It helps by removing the adjectives and adverbs. For example,…

How to End Self-Critical Thoughts (Part 1)

November 16, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

At times we can be our own harshest critic. That little voice inside our head can be very self-critical. This can be because our work in schools can seem never ending. There is always more that can be done. More planning, more preparation, more consultation, more factors to consider and more meetings to be held. Despite our best efforts, sometimes things don’t quite work out the way we might like and often that leads to further self-critical thoughts. We can mentally beat ourselves up about what we “should have done!” Often this is unrealistic and not helpful. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing. Thoughts are important because they drive our actions, our choices, our results and ultimately our happiness. The…

Finish Strong

November 9, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

The final term of the school year is a crazy time in schools. End of year reporting, class allocations, timetabling, budgets and planning for next year swamp us at a time when our energies are low and many of us feel we are running on empty. By the end of the year we are more likely to be sensitive, ‘thin skinned’ and emotional because we are run down and in need of that well-earned break. We shouldn’t be surprised. The same thing happens at this time every year. The important thing is HOW we respond to this challenge. Monitoring our self-talk and our sensitivity are particularly important at this time of the year. We are far more susceptible to allowing irritations that would not…

Take the Initiative This World Teachers’ Day

October 26, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

Working in schools can be tough and demanding. Much of the work that staff in schools do, goes unrecognised. It can take years before we see the impact that we have had. The lack of respect for the work of staff in schools and the impact they have, has contributed to increased staff turnover and made recruitment more difficult than ever. As a result, staff shortages are common and attracting people to join the profession is challenging. However, our work is very important and can also be very rewarding. We have the opportunity to change people’s lives every single day. If we only focus on the problems and challenges of our profession and can’t find and talk about the positive…

Increase Contentment By Avoiding Comparison

October 19, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

One of the greatest protective factors against unhappiness and a low mood is social connection. Quality friendships, ones that allow you to just be who you are without judgement, decrease stress and anxiety and they build self-worth and belonging. However, something is harming quality connection and it’s becoming a cultural epidemic… comparison and competition. Understanding the following definitions can be helpful in recognizing our behaviour. Comparison – the consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people. Competition – the activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others. Comparison and competition lowers self-esteem in the ‘losers’ because they feel ‘less than’ and ‘not enough’. For the ‘winners’,…

Letting off Steam the Safe Way

October 12, 2023

Stevef

Resilience

Anger gets a bad rap and sure enough, can cause a lot of damage if it’s not contained or used in a healthy way, but it is a normal and helpful emotion when used appropriately. Anger has a very definite purpose or else we wouldn’t experience it. Anger can be very informative and knowing how to work with it effectively is an essential life skill. When you embrace anger and learn from it, you’ll find yourself feeling empowered, setting healthy boundaries and building respect. Anger is a protective mechanism. It occurs when one of a few things happen: basic boundaries are violated and you’re under threat, feelings are being frequently suppressed instead of expressed, a need is not being met…

Celebrate the Wins at Work

October 5, 2023

Stevef

Activities

I don’t think we focus on the positives nearly enough. This is true in our personal lives, but also in workplaces, where around two-thirds of people say they do not feel their efforts and achievements are acknowledged or valued. To put it another way, there is not enough celebration of the wins. Celebrating the wins at work has several benefits: It makes you and others feel good: When we focus on making other people feel good by celebrating their wins, everyone wins. We get the feel-goods as well. It is also important to remember, we can celebrate people’s wins in their personal lives as well. It shows progress towards important goals: Yes, the big wins can be celebrated but even…