How to Prevent Teacher Burnout

For me, I am less than a month into the school year, but it has been a long month!  I am already looking for tips and tricks to prevent burnout.

Work Out

Taking a little time for yourself everyday is a great step toward keeping yourself calm and collected.  I like the Rachel Hollis theory of making your body move for 30 minutes every day.

Whether you do a half-hour intense workout, or you go for a 30 minute walk after dinner, just let your body move!

Working out sends your body a rush of endorphins.  This allows your body to feel good and also gives you something to be proud of and feel accomplished.

Personally I find working out to be a stress relief because it releases tension.

Make the Weekends Your Time

Every weekend I bring work home.  I find the pile of work on my dining room table just adds stress.

Unless its a special occasion and you have something going on at school.  Make the weekends your time.  Leaving work at work and not bringing it home allows you to take a break from the stress and recharge from a trying week.

Teaching is HARD!  It can be physically and emotionally draining.  And if you don’t take care of yourself, you are going to suffer.

Sleep

Sleep is so important.

When I am overtired, I find that I am hungrier, crankier, and I make poor health decisions.

Allowing yourself to sleep and get the required amount of sleep will help you to be the best teacher, friend, mother, sister, father, uncle, all of the things, that you can be.

You know what time you have to wake up everyday.  Make sure you’re going to bed at a good time the night before.

Schedule Your Time

Making sure you know what your week is going to look like ahead of time, allows you to plan for busy days.

If you know that next Wednesday, you have a meeting during your prep, or you have to make a phone call during your lunch, you can make sure that the chores you were going to get done during that time get done another time.

Every week I schedule all of my classes and all of my tasks into my Google Calendar.  I schedule everything from a math class, to an ELA test, to a report that I have to write.  This allows me to stay ahead of my to do list and not let the list control me.

Communicate with Your Co-Workers

The best tool I have for being a good teacher is the team around me.

Communicating with my work friends, and my co-teachers, allows them to know when I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Sometimes just venting about it and knowing that I’m not alone makes me feel better.

Sometimes, letting them know that I’m overwhelmed will prevent them from asking me for favors.

I am the type of person that has difficulty saying no to doing something for someone else that is going to help them.  As a stereotypical Enneagram Type 2, I have a need to help.

If I communicate with my co-teachers that I am stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed; they are not going to put their burdens on me, and sometimes they even do small things to try and relieve my stress.

It is okay to ask for help, but in a professional situation, make sure you know who you can trust and who has your best interest at heart.

 

Teaching is tough, make sure to take care of yourself and to do whatever it is that YOU need to prevent yourself from burning out.

Also, Check-Out:

What to Do When You’re About to Lose Your Cool

My Favorite Self-Care Books