Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition - Episode 27 - Stress Management: There's an App for That

September 25, 2019 Kitty Boitnott Season 1 Episode 27
Teachers in Transition
Teachers in Transition - Episode 27 - Stress Management: There's an App for That
Show Notes Transcript

There is an app for just about everything, including help for managing stress. Check out a list of apps from an Inc. article entitled, "13 of the Best Apps to Manage Stress" by Lolly Daskal. Kudos to her for compiling the list.

This channel goes with a podcast by the same name, "Teachers in Transition." Dr. Kitty Boitnott addresses teacher burnout and the stress that many teachers experience while teaching. For those needing tips for extra self-care, Kitty offers stress management tips. For those who have decided to explore other career options, she provides sound job search and career advice. She is trained and experienced as a career transition and job search coach and has been certified as a Life Strategies, Stress Management, Holistic Life, and Sleep Science Coach. She is also a Licensed Science of Mind Minister. Kitty was named one of the top Career Coaches Online by CareerToolkit in 2016. She loves working with teachers and mid-career professionals who find themselves at a career crossroads.

Kitty Boitnott:

Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." This is Kitty Boitnott of"Teachers in Transition," the podcast and the YouTube channel. And welcome back for another episode. This week we're going to be talking about stress and managing stress more effectively and proactively. And I saw an article the other day that made me think about what I wanted to share with you today. And the article was about a high level former government employee who had quit his job in frustration, u m, and it moved into a new line of work. But he had shared that while he was still working in his job and felt so overly stressed and upset so much of the time because of things that were going on in his work. That he had started to use a particular, u m, app on his phone that had, he had used to help h im m anage h is stress. And it occurred to me and we bandy about the idea that there's an"app for that." There's an app for just about everything. If there isn't yet an app. Someone is going to figure out a way to create one and so that's why our phones are full of all sorts of apps that we use. I use them quite a bit. The one that he offered that he used in particular was"Headspace." So I did a little bit of research and found a list of 13 different apps that you might want to consider as potential stress busters in your own day to day life. Now,"Headspace" in this particular article that I found is described as a"gym membership for the mind."Headspace" provides a series of guided meditation sessions in mindfulness training. A free trial is available and with additional sessions available by subscription." Hardly any of these are going to be totally free. Some of them might be, but a lot of them you might have to pay a fee. But if you're looking for relief from day to day stress as a minor fee for an app that might help you to better manage the stress in your life, it's a small price to pay it seems like to me at this article that I'm quoting from is Inc. An article from iInc. called"Today's Must-Read. It's from"Today's Must Read" newsletter. The author is Lolly Daskal, so I want to be sure to give proper credit to the individual who collected this list of 13 apps that I'm going to share with you as possibilities for yourself to check out and try in the event that perhaps an app would be useful for you in your day to day management of your stress. One is"Breathe2Relax" and the it's spelled breathe, b-r-e-a-t-h-e-2-r-e-l-a-x. It's a smart phone app with instructions and exercises and diaphragmatic breathing, a documented stress management skill. Now that is absolutely true. Breathing and I've talked about breathing in a previous episode. The importance of remembering to breathe, breathing deeply all the way down into your diaphragm, filling your lungs, holding and then releasing. Slowly doing that just a few times a day. We'll manage the stress in your body, relieves the stress in your shoulders and clear all the clutter in your head or maybe not all of it, that a lot of it to breathe to relax is one option. Another one is"Pacifica" p-a-c-i-f-i-c-a. It provides deep breathing and muscle relaxation exercises, daily anti-anxiety experiments and tools including a mood tracker. Excuse me, recording your own thoughts can help you understand your thinking patterns and recognize possible anxiety triggers. So that is"Pacifica." Another one is"GPS for the Soul." Um, it's a stress management app. I believe I read that doesn't say it on here, but I believe that that's the one that was, uh, developed for Arianna Huffington and Deepok Chopra or to use. So it is a, helps you to manage your stress with meditation tools. And it includes calming pictures and music."Happify." I've had"Happify" as an app on my phone for quite quite a while now."A brain training app based on research showing that some types of activity can help you combat negativity, anxiety and stress, while fostering positive traits like gratitude and empathy."Happify" h-a-p-p-f-y."Stress Doctor" is another one,"a cycle of stress busting, deep breathing exercises combined with a heart rate monitor so you can see the effects on your body in real time."Stress Doctor.""Headspace," which I already mentioned,"Personal Zen," z-e-n developed with a professor of psychology and neuroscience, a series of games based on clinical findings about methods for reducing anxiety levels. Another is my mood tracker, knowledge of his power. It says, once you become more aware of what you're feeling, when you can begin figuring out links between life events and cycles and your moods, which in turn will help you manage and work around your mood. It may be one of those things that just helps you to become more mindful and aware, which is important in managing your stress. Another one is called"Squeeze and Shake. It says,'don't internalize your anger and stress, but then them harmlessly on a virtual rubber duck and I suspect you could use a rubber ball or rubberized anything that you might be able to squeeze and work off some of your stress. Uh, another one is"Pocket Yoga.""Relax with Yoga, look up single poses or put together single routines from a range of yoga styles and levels of difficulty." Um, and then the last one I want mention, this is not a complete list. If you want to see the complete list you can go to eat for yourself. Have the title. I looked up stress apps and that's how I found this particular article. I'm remembering that the author is, Oh, it's called"13 of the Best Apps to Manage Stress." And the author again was Lolly Daskal, D-a-s-k-a-l, but pay it forward is one of the apps that she recommends. It"encourages a daily act of kindness, which is a proven stress release. Reduce her with a list of suggestions as well as connection to community of people, to a community of people who are committed to the principles of paying it forward." Perhaps you remember the movie from years ago called Pay It Forward. And it was about living a life of kindness and providing for others as well as for yourself. So those are some suggestions. Remember there is always an app that you can find for to help you solve just about any problem that you may have. And stress is a reality for almost all of us. I don't know anybody who's able to completely escape stress and as a day to day struggle or at least a challenge if not a struggle. It's more of a struggle for some of us than others. People who are prone to having anxiety attacks or having a fearful thoughts, um, folks who, who have that proclivity need to do whatever they can to help manage their moods, manage their stress, manage their ability to cope with the events of day to day life. And I'm not going to kid you day to day life in 2019 moving in quickly into 2020 is a stressful time for all of us. Regardless of where you may be in the world, regardless of what may be going on around you. We just have a lot going on in the world right now and it's a lot of noise that when you feel helpless, you start to feel more stressed. So managing that stress, recognizing what you do have control of and what you don't have control of letting go of the things that you can't control. Those are some strategies that you can use for managing your stress on a day to day basis. I hope you'll try out some of these apps. I know I've enjoyed using the"Happify" and I'm interested now and checking out some of these others. That's it for today. If you have any questions, please email me@kittybotnetgmail.com I hope you all plan to subscribe to the podcast channel as well as to the YouTube channel at"Teachers in Transition". Leave a review. If you would, I'd love to hear from me, ask questions and let me know what topics you'd like me to be covering as I talk one week about stress and another week about career transition. Stay tuned to for an upcoming Webinar and workshop that I'm going to be offering on the topic of passion and purpose. I'd love for you to join me and I'll be sharing the details of that in the next few weeks. Have a wonderful week. And until then, this is Kitty Boitnott at"Teachers in Transition."

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So there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is"Teachers in Transition."