5 Teacher Self Care Ideas to Try Today

What Is Self Care?

Self-care becomes a buzzword after a while. Admin touts it as a way to relieve your stress, without Actually giving you time to relieve said stress. They get to say they told you to do self care and you are still stuck in those stress response cycles. 

But no more, today we learn the real meaning of self care for you! Self care is where you do anything to make sure that your needs are being heard, met, and prioritized. They can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual self-care, and you get to decide what works for you. 

Creating a Teacher Self Care Kit

Sure, it may end up being a face mask and a glass of wine at the end of the week; the point is that it doesn't have to be. It can be a moment every morning where you say an affirmation or what you are grateful for each day (Check out this Free List of Positive Affirmations here).

Maybe it's taking time with your own family and putting down the grading. Maybe it's that you took lunch alone just to have some peace and quiet to relax, reset, and sit in mindfulness in order to prepare yourself for the rest of the day. Or maybe it's just that you showered today instead of using dry shampoo for the 3rd day in a row (no judgment, I've been there too).  

No matter what you do for your self-care, it is hopefully something you can implement more consistently to make sure your needs are being met too. As teachers, We can get stuck caring for others, especially our students, without considering our own wellness. Self-care is just making sure you are taken care of too.

Now if you fear that you are already burnt out and seeking tips for recovery, just having self-care tips is not going to pull you out of burnout. You need far more support than just a face mask if you are in a burnout cycle. If that is the case, you may want to check out the articles “What is Teacher Burnout?” and/or “6 Tips for Teacher Burnout Recovery” first.

Teacher Self Care Ideas

1. Art

Use art to let your inner child (or angsty teenager) out to play using…drum roll please….ART!  Now you may be thinking: "Jewels I am a horrible artist, this one is not for me." But art is more about creativity than "being good at it."

Plus, you have a lot of options for art. You can draw (stick figures are allowed too), make a comic strip, paint, doodle, or even color. My students have always loved coloring days. 

It's a task where your creativity can be let out in a safe space, while also keeping your mind occupied and helping regulate your emotional state. You can color on your own, add it as a Wellness Wednesday activity for students to teach them stress management techniques, use at the end of a lesson or some free time, or really whenever you want. 

I even have some coloring sheets available in my TPT store if you want something quick to print and start on right now. So what do you think? Should we start coloring? 

2. Learn Something New

One way to incorporate self care into your day or week or month is to expand your horizons. You can learn a new skill or hobby or recipe, or technique for something you already do. 

No matter what you choose, learning a new skill is so helpful to embrace learning while also trusting yourself to be able to succeed. You can push yourself to accept mistakes, let go of perfectionism, and face the unknown in a safe and more familiar way. 

Maybe learn more about stress management to build better teacher life balance (Freebie Resource Hub Detailed Below).

3. Setting Boundaries

We all know teacher burnout is real. We see it creep in and try to take control. It comes on slowly, yet we often don't even recognize it is there.

And one of the biggest things we overlook when it comes to teacher burnout is how much our lax boundary setting can make waves of issues later. Setting Boundaries can really help you get back your footing.

4. Check In With Yourself

Check in with yourself and decide what your priorities are for this week/today. How are you going to prioritize emotional care, physical care, spiritual care, etc into your day or week?

By checking in you can make sure that you and your needs are a priority in your life. It is so easy to push yourself aside to make room for others, but your needs matter too. 

Make explicit time for these check ins, preferably throughout the day. Check in with your body and ask it what it needs. I know this sounds silly, but sometimes it is easier to ask your body and listen for an intrinsic answer than feel stuck with trying to decide what is going on.

Your brain likes to answer questions, so when you are stuck, phrase your inquiry as a question and listen for a response deep inside of you. It may be a whisper at first, but it becomes more clear over time. 

5. Cozy It Up

To Cozy It Up, you just have to find something you find cozy and add it to your life. Think textures, warmth, and hidden places.

Try things like: 

• fuzzy socks
• warm blankets
• soft textures 
• beanies, scarves, or sweatpants
• or any other way for you to feel the cozy this season.

And remember you can use this self-care tip at any time to bring you comfort. Self-Care does not have to be big, it just has to bring you comfort and allow you a moment to be in the present and decompress from stress.

Figure out what works best for you and add those more consistently into your weekly routines.

Conclusion

My goal as an educator and coach is to make sure that teachers are able to achieve better work life balance, using the Teacher Life Balance Method. 5-

1. Understand Stress Management and what work life balance really means for teachers (i.e. these blogs and my Instagram (@jewelsofteaching). 
2. Reflect on our current coping skills and what might be missing or taking away from better options. 
3. Explore different stress management strategies (like the teacher self care ideas above and the Resource Hub detailed below) to see what works best for you.
4. Build habits that will last using the strategies that work with your teacher lifestyle.
5. Curate an individualized stress management system that can work whenever you encounter stress. This is where you have the knowledge from Step 1, the wherewithal of your stress management needs from Step 2, the toolbox of strategies from Step 3, AND the habits from Step 4 to be able to use the right strategy for different stressors (without having to exert a ton of energy).

These self-care ideas are only a part of the system and I want you to succeed in making your life look exactly how you want it to. As such, I made the FREE Stress Management for Teachers Resource Hub! 

You will find resources to use some of these teacher self-care ideas and, as a bonus, you will also have access to versatile social emotional learning lesson plans for high school students. 

And there’s more!!!!

Every month, I will add a new still Free resource to the Hub for you to try out. Head over to the Stress Management for Teachers Resource Hub today to get your freebies!