Incredible Strategies to Refresh and Recharge as a Teacherpreneur: Conquer Stress with Positive Movement

The hustle and bustle of modern lifestyles can be overwhelming, leading to increased levels of stress that can rob us of our productivity and peace of mind. Despite the chaotic pace of our everyday lives, there are ways to use positive movement to manage stress. In this blog post, we’ll explore how teacherpreneurs can use positive movement to manage stress and live better lives.

What is Positive Movement

Though we know the term exercise, and all of the possible negative connotations that come with it, we may not understand positive movement as much. Positive movement is extremely similar to exercise: it is movement that you enjoy, whatever that may be. 

I choose to use the term positive movement in order to move away from any diet culture implications where movement is forced, or obligatory, or icky. Instead, positive movement is stripped of those internal conflicts from outside sources and instead just focuses on what you enjoy and how it helps you. 

It is not for losing weight (you are wonderful exactly as you are in this moment, and your body has kept you alive thus far). It is not for some sort of quota you feel you need to complete. It is neither rigorous or HIIT or structured. 

It is just movement, preferably movement you enjoy.

Positive movement is going to help you move your body in a way that feels satisfying, enjoyable, and even stress relieving. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. 

The Benefits of Positive Movement

At this point, you may be questioning my sanity. But once you jump into this mindset shift, it changes everything. Seeing movement as a thing you GET to do instead of something that you HAVE to do, removes invisible obstacles in your head. 

You GET to lift weights. You GET to do yoga. You GET to clean the house. Okay, maybe that last one is just for me, but it still counts as movement. 

Finding movement you enjoy releases endorphins, takes care of your body’s essential needs, and allows for several stress response cycles to be completed. We have these stress response cycles everyday, and I don’t know about you, but doing an hour at the gym looking at other people doing an hour at the gym is not on my list of “fun things.”

Positive movement also is super easy to do. You don’t have the limitations of having to go somewhere or get ready. Do naked yoga in your bedroom right after you get up…still counts! 

Make movement as easy as possible to allow yourself to be more consistent with it. The more you can incorporate positive movement each day, the more you can actively process those stress response cycles and move forward without burning out.  

5 Examples of Positive Movement

We’ve talked about a few examples of positive movement so far. Here are 5 more that you can do at any time. 

1. Laundry
2. Boxing
3. Walking around the neighborhood
4. Biking
5. Dancing while you cook

Whatever it is, make sure it is fun and enjoyable. Your body will appreciate shaking out those extra stressors, and you can easily incorporate physical self-care into your daily routine.

Effective Strategies for Making Positive Movement a Part of Your Life

As we noted before, making things as easy as possible is the way to hack your internal systems. 

If you want to go to the gym, put out your shoes right next to your bed when you wake up. If you want to remember to water your plants, put the watering can right next to your toothbrush. 

Make things accessible. Make it easy. Make it enjoyable. That way, you can go back to it again and again. 

Plus, when you first start out, make your activity timely. Tell yourself, you only need to dance around the kitchen for one song while the water boils. Then, let your inner child feel the rhythm and get to moving. 

You can also use some sort of trigger (like a song or an object) to help you get started on tasks you want to repeat. For instance, I will turn on Beyonce every time I go to cook to help me get started and I end up dancing as I go for some easy movement and entertainment while I am working. I like to turn on Paramore when I go into my office to put me in work mode. 

Using Positive Movement as Physical Self-Care

Physical self care can be through those essential practices for our body. Eating nutritious and satisfying food, getting enough water during the day, having appropriate and fulfilling sleep, moving your body in a way you find enjoyable, taking a bath, etc. Learn more about self-care in the Self Care Reference Guide or Creating a Self-Care Plan Workbook.

Positive movement is just one aspect of physical self-care that you can implement to help you with stress management. In order to help your teacherpreneur business run efficiently, you need to also take care of yourself. 

If you go down in a burnout cycle, so does your business. As such, try to incorporate regular self-care and learn time-management skills to allow you more time for those activities.

You can do this! The fact that you go this far in this article shows me that. Now go out there and conquer the world as you were meant to.

Wrap Up

Positive movement is an important tool for teacherpreneurs that can be used to manage stress. From the benefits of positive movement to effective strategies for making positive movement a part of your life, this blog post provides an overview of how to use positive movement to manage stress.

If you’re feeling the strain of the hustle and bustle of your life, try using positive movement to manage stress. You can find more information on goal setting, stress management, and time management specifically for teacherpreneurs inside the Teacher Business Balance Membership.

Inside, we offer a compassion-forward model to learn new skills, make your business more efficient, and give you more time for what is most important to you. Plus, starting October 1st, we have some Amazing (and quick) bonus trainings on all the things teacherpreneurs need. Head over to the link above to learn more about this professional development opportunity.