Many of us were at a point of feeling highly stressed and anxious even before this latest situation that has all of us in its grip. Part of the reason I became a stress management coach is that I wanted to help people learn how to manage and reduce their stress.
Taking care of our psychological wellness is an essential part of maintaining our health overall. So when you start to feel your thoughts running away with negativity, worry, and fear, it's time to do something to stop those thoughts in their tracks. Develop a mantra or a positive affirmation that you can use to interrupt the negative thoughts.
You need to turn those negative thoughts around. And you need to safeguard your mental and emotional wellbeing. This episode offers 5 ways you can go about doing that. It is based on the newsletter I wrote this week. If you would like a copy of it, click here: http://bit.ly/emotionalwellbeing.
#stress #stressmanagment #stress relief #wellbeing #mentalhealth #psychologicalhealth #coronavirus #COVID19
Many of us were at a point of feeling highly stressed and anxious even before this latest situation that has all of us in its grip. Part of the reason I became a stress management coach is that I wanted to help people learn how to manage and reduce their stress.
Taking care of our psychological wellness is an essential part of maintaining our health overall. So when you start to feel your thoughts running away with negativity, worry, and fear, it's time to do something to stop those thoughts in their tracks. Develop a mantra or a positive affirmation that you can use to interrupt the negative thoughts.
You need to turn those negative thoughts around. And you need to safeguard your mental and emotional wellbeing. This episode offers 5 ways you can go about doing that. It is based on the newsletter I wrote this week. If you would like a copy of it, click here: http://bit.ly/emotionalwellbeing.
#stress #stressmanagment #stress relief #wellbeing #mentalhealth #psychologicalhealth #coronavirus #COVID19
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." Welcome back to this episode, Episode 52! This is a big one because it means that I've managed to get something up and on air for the last year, and a shout out to Toastmasters International for giving me the nudge to do this. This whole podcast started out as a project for Toastmasters International and the idea was that I didn't have to continue to do it. I just needed to record a podcast episode and share it with my club, and I recorded that first episode and just kept on going. So here I am, Episode 52 almost a whole year later. As I said, my name is Kitty Boitnott. I think I said that--Kitty Boitnott of"Teachers in Transition," the podcast and the YouTube channel. And if you listen to me or if you haven't listened to me, you will learn that I alternate topics every other week between stress management one week because I'm a stress management coach and I've written a book about stress and I'm also, and I do workshops on stress management. I also am a heart-centered career transition and job search coach. I work with teachers especially who are looking to transition from the profession of teaching into some other line of work. And I have training in that area and I've been working in that space for the last, over the, over the last five or six years. And so this week the topic in general is stress and what to do when you find yourself stressed out. And we are now into starting week three of all the conversation around the pandemic and the economic crisis. And, uh, honestly I spoke of this, uh, three weeks ago and it's gotten worse each week, each day, and some days it feels like the news changes for the worse minute by minute. So it's a constantly fluctuating situation. But what I wanted to offer today are a few thoughts about how to manage during this particular time. I want to share with you some, uh, suggestions that I'm going to be sharing this week in my newsletter. I offer a weekly newsletter, uh, as well as the weekly Podcast and YouTube channel and the YouTube channel and the podcasts are generally synched up, but the newsletter isn't always in sync with what I talk about on the podcast. This week it happens to be synched up perfectly because I want to refer to the newsletter that I've written for this week. It's entitled"5 Ways to Boost Your Mental and Emotional Wellbeing During Stressful Times." And these are definitely stressful times, aren't they? So five things that you could be doing for yourself during this particular time that, so you can be boosting your mental and emotional wellbeing. Well, I hope you're also taking care of your physical wellbeing. I mean that's really the whole point of social isolation, social isolating or distancing yourself, staying home, not going out and about with other people so that you keep yourself safe by not picking up the virus inadvertently. And you keep others safe by not giving it to them if you happen to have it and don't know it yet. So this whole idea of staying apart is so that we can be well together when we are able to get back together. And it is stressful. I mean, no, nobody knows. No one has a crystal ball. We don't know how it's all going to play out. But here's the good news. That is we're all in this together. No one is immune. And unless you follow the guidelines, you cannot keep yourself protected just because you happen to be of a particular economic, uh, demographic or, um, you may make a certain amount of money or a certain, or you're a certain ethnicity or color. It's indiscriminate. The virus doesn't care as long as y ou a re human being, it's in search of you to infect you. And so it is, it is very stressful and very concerning. But w e a re limited in what we can do, especially if you really w ant to hunker down and follow the rules and do what you need to do to keep yourself safe. And so I want to share some thoughts about how you can manage your stress and take care of your mental and emotional wellbeing while also guarding yourself physically. So the first thing I want to be sure to point out is the importance of sleep. The sleep will help you physically as well as mentally and emotionally. So definitely don't, just because you don't have to get up at a certain time in the morning to go to work. If you're one of those people who've been furloughed or laid off or your job just disappeared overnight and now you have nowhere to go or you're working from home. Working from home can be a particular challenge because you're not used to it, perhaps. I'm in my office, I work from home and I were, I'm in my office no later than nine o'clock every single morning. And I usually work until five or shortly after I put in a full day even though I work from home, I take breaks to walk the dogs and let them out. I also take a break for lunch, but that's about it. I'm pretty steady and I also make sure that I get the sleep that I need. So I go to bed at a particular hour and then I get up at a particular hour. So while we're all in flux, and especially if you're worried about your finances, about your family, about not being able to visit family members who may be in distress and you want to go see them, but you know that to keep them safe, you really shouldn't go see them. Um, getting the sleep that you need will not only help you to maintain a sense of focus and clarity about the situation. It will actually help you to make better decisions. So getting enough sleep is not, not just a throw away tip. It's really crucially fundamental to your ability to function well, to stay focused, to be productive, doing whatever it is that you're doing during your day, um, and making good decisions, including making good decisions about what you eat and, and and other habits that you may have. Your exercise is important. So when you're sleeping well and staying in a routine, keeping your body's rhythm going properly, you are in better shape to deal with all of this extra stress that's on all of us. So do get the sleep that you need. Go to bed at a particular hour, dim the lights a little bit before going to bed. Turn off the electronics. Don't be reading from your Kindle or your phone or iPad. Turn those off, read from a book, um, and, and try to get to sleep at a regular hour. If you wake up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts and you start to just feel like you're going down the rabbit hole of worry and fear than perhaps, uh, getting up and turning on the lights. You know, it's always worse in the dark. It feels like. Turn on a lamp. They'll make a glass of warm milk, milk. I mean there is a, it's not just a myth that warm milk will help you to sleep. So do what you have to do for self-care by getting the sleep that you need. Secondly, I want to urge you to continue to get together with your family and friends even though you can't get together with them, uh, physically. You can get together with them virtually. I've been to two to Toastmasters meetings virtually this past week. I went, uh, I went to a mastermind meeting, um, per per Zoom last Wednesday I had the opportunity to have a celebration with my brother who turned 62 this week. We had a birthday party virtually for him. Um, I'm having a get together shortly with friends. We're going to have a virtual Happy Hour. We're using zoom as our platform, but there are plenty of other platforms like FaceTime and Skype and Zoom. Zoom is even offering a free, um, or free unlimited account for the time being so that you can stay connected for both work and family support. So do, do, do take advantage of the opportunity to stay connected even though you can't be in the same room. You know, the irony is that when we are stressed, we, we yearn for physical connection. We, we yearn for a hug, a reassuring hug, a pat on the back, something that will reassure us that everything's going to be okay. And right now in order to keep each other safe, we have to stay apart. So, the good news is we don't have to stay completely apart, uh, in that you can always get on the phone or hop on Zoom for the face to face experience. So stay connected. The third strategy or tip or a suggestion I have for you is to perform an act of kindness for someone else to take the, take so much of attention off of yourself for a little while. Um, no matter how bad you have it or think you have it, I guarantee there's somebody else who's got it a whole lot worse than you do. And so think of ways that you might be able to help those folks. Um, I called a neighbor last week and we don't normally chat. I just, I see her out and about every once in a while she's older than I am, although I don't know how much older. And it just occurred to me to wonder. She has family. I know she's got at least a son or grandson who comes to visit her regularly, but now she can't have visitors. And so I just, I reached out to her through an email and I said, I'm thinking about you and wanting you to know that if you need anything, let me know. We need to look out for each other. And she wrote back, Oh, that's so kind, Kitty, thank you for thinking of me. And same here if you need anything, let me know. Well sure enough, the very next morning she called and she said, I'm on my way to the store. Do you need anything? And I didn't. But I appreciated the offer. And the next time I go to the store, I'll reach out to see if she needs anything. There are four ladies in my age group who lived in this neighborhood who were single and we've always kind of looked out for each other. But now it's even more important that we check in and make sure that we're doing okay. So perform an act of kindness. If, if that isn't an option, a call, grandparent or or call a friend, you haven't talked for to for a long time or make a donation, the food banks are going to be stretched really, really thin. So if you can make a contribution, a financial contribution perhaps as opposed to taking food in, but send money to the local food bank, to the Salvation Army and support the groups that are being strained right now, but all the extra folks that they need to be helping. Um, so do that. Think of ways that you can proactively manage your stress. For example, um, if you're feeling anxious and upset, it might be that a nice warm bath right before bed time will help you to sleep a little bit better. Um, for extra measure, throw in some bubbles if you like. Um, you can't go get a massage but you can sit and meditate. You could be writing in a journal, you know, at some point in the future your kids and your grandkids are going to want to know what was it like to live during this time. You could be journaling that and getting it out of your head and onto the paper will certainly help. Um, if you can't go to the gym because the gym's closed down, that doesn't need to stop you from getting some exercise. You can stream a yoga, I mean, streaming aerobics class perhaps or just go for a brisk walk around the neighborhood. If you want some more suggestions on how to manage your stress, you can download my ebook, which is free at http://teachersintransition.com/ebook.
:It offers some other strategies that you need to be aware of perhaps. And both managing and relieving your stress. And finally the fifth one is no matter what else is going on, don't forget to laugh. Finds a way to have fun if your family is, is being stuck together because your kids aren't going to school and you're working from home or your job isn't available right now and you have nowhere else to go.
Kitty Boitnott:I mean, think about, this is really a time when your family can bond in a significant and profound way. We've all gotten so busy that we've lost touch with our family members and I mean the core unit where we're often in a million directions that especially if you have teenagers and this is a particularly hard time for them. I know that in that it is what it is. So everybody has to just adjust their attitude and make the best of it. So play games. A few like playing cards or board games. Do that. Watch movies together and find funny ones that you can laugh at. Laughter is the one of the best kinds of medicine. It releases the feel good hormones that you need and neurotransmitters that your brain needs to to make yourself feel better, lighter, and more at ease. So do these things for yourself while you are stuck at home. And take advantage of the time that you've been given to do some things that you ordinarily wouldn't do, like reading some books that you've been putting off or I've suggested before. You can always start writing that book that you've always wanted to write, but you made the excuse that you didn't have time. You've got time now. You've got time to do lots of things that you didn't have time for before. So use your time productively. If you just fret and feel anxious, you're only going to feel worse and you'll make everybody around you feel worse and there's nothing to be gained from that. So to the extent that can make the best of it. Look for the silver linings. Look for the little blessings that are out there for us all to find. Look for the opportunities and the challenges and remember that we're all in this together. No matter who you are or where you are listening to this or watching this video. We're all in this together right now. We've got to stick together if we're going to get through it and we will get through it. That's it for today. Have a wonderful rest of your week. Stay well, stay safe, stay isolated. And I'll be back next week. 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."