Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition - Episode 66 - Managing What You Can and Cannot Control When Managing Stress

July 01, 2020 Kitty Boitnott
Teachers in Transition
Teachers in Transition - Episode 66 - Managing What You Can and Cannot Control When Managing Stress
Transcript
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." Welcome back to episode 66 of Teachers in Transition, the podcast and the YouTube channel. My name is Kitty. Boitnott, the owner of Boitnott Coaching and the founder of Teachers in Transition.com and the podcast and YouTube channel Teachers in Transition. Now, if you've listened to me at all, you know, that I alternate topics every other week, one week I speak to career transition strategies because I am an experienced and trained career transition and job search strategist. I specialize in working with teachers who are burnt out and ready to leave the classroom for more rewarding and fulfilling and less overwhelming job. And I also am a certified stress management coach, and I've written an ebook on stress and offer a cheat sheet on stress management strategies. And I will be talking about stress today. So I will offer both the link to the ebook and the link to the cheat sheet in the show notes this after I've completed the courting, this, so it's the end of June. It's the 29th of June. As I record this, it'll be dropping on Thursday the 2nd of July. And we are still experiencing the uptick of cases across the country. More so in some States than others of the Coronavirus, novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. And we are also experiencing the economic unrest that has occurred as a result of the pandemic and the social unrest. That is the result of a whole conglomeration of events that have converged at this particular point in our history, forcing Americans to look at the systemic racism that is part of the fabric of our country and has been since its founding and it's thought-provoking. It's created lots of opportunity for inner reflection and thoughtfulness about each one of us and our part in perpetuating this system of inequity across the board, uh, between the races, African Americans, and Caucasians. And so it's a stressful time. And what do you do if you're an individual experiencing the stress and anxiety of all of these converging events all at once. I mean, it, it can feel pretty overwhelming. So one of the things that I want to recommend to you today is that there are only certain things that you'd have any control over. And there are some things, lots of things that you don't have any control over at all. And I want you to think in terms of what you can do, what are those things in your life that you do have absolute control over? And what changes might you need to make in order to demonstrate your control over those situations and what situations, what, what issues, what events are going on that you have no control over. And for those things I want you to try to just let them go, let them be. Whoever can take care of those issues, let them do their job, let them do their work. But if, if you can't have any direct control over it, try to let it go. You can only do what you can do. And in the meantime, and the number one thing that you can be doing for yourself is taking care of yourself so that you can be in a position to take care of others as they may need you. If you're a, if you're a mom, you exactly what I'm talking about, you need to take care of you so that you're well and able to take care of your family. Okay? If you are a dad, you're in the same position, you need to take care of yourself so that you can do what you have to do to take care of your family. If you are single adult, you need to take care of you so that you are able to be there for your friends and family who may need you. The bottom line is the only thing we really have any control over is how we take care of ourselves. And even that is confusing and can create stress right now, because there are so many conflicting stories and opinions and feelings about how to best take care of yourself, especially in the areas where you have now some limited perhaps, uh, control over where you go and who you interact with in my state, where in the midst of phase two, about to, about to perhaps go into phase three of opening up the economy, we've managed to keep the numbers low during phase two, by continuing social distancing. The requirement in my state of wearing a mask when in public, um, were still recommendation that you stay home when you can stay home and Lego, where you need to go avoid non essential travel. Um, I kind of broke that in the last week when I went to the beach for one day that we decided it was better just to go for the day instead of an overnight, because in a day we would have more control over our environment and we could come home and sleep in our, in their heads. So we did, we went to the beach for the day, just, just to get away, to enjoy the sand and listened to the surf for a little while, watch the people on the beach. We didn't actually even get on the beach. We just sat on the boardwalk and people watched, but it was lovely. Just getting out of the house, feeling the wind in our hair. I went with my boyfriend, we took the dogs and we had a lovely day. We ate out on a patio and had a lovely lunch and leisurely drive home. It was a lovely day, but when we were with anybody or actually in the car, I wore my mask. If I was doing a lot of talking because I wanted to protect him, he had his mask as well. And we wore our masks. When we were out, perhaps coming into contact with people on the street, we kept our social distance. However, so I doubt that there was any social contact that we were mindful of being responsible adults and following the rules and doing what we're asked to do to protect ourselves and each other. Apparently there are some people who are really chafing against the idea of wearing the mask for reasons that aren't scientific and don't have anything to do with science, but they've made it a political statement, not to wear a mask and to have little tantrums and meltdowns. I watched a video on Twitter yesterday of a woman who was almost finished with her shopping. And she was asked to put on a mask and like a two year old, she started throwing the stuff out of her basket onto the floor and walked out and cussed everybody out because she was asked to do the responsible thing. So if you want to be managing your stress and your sense of anxiety, the first thing to do is to take care of yourself. And one of the things to do that can demonstrate your care for yourself and others is wear a mask. If you have to go out, stay home first, wear a mask. If you do need to go out limit where you go so that you're not inadvertently perhaps picking up or passing on the virus, because you can be asymptomatic. You can have it and not know it for a few days and don't buy into the stuff about only old people can get it. I'm following a young woman right now on caring bridge, who is a friend of a friend. And I've picked up on her story on Facebook last week, she's only 30. She's fighting for her life. She's on a ventilator. She's had all sorts of complications, 30 years old. And before this, she thought she was invincible. She was mom of two little kids. She didn't think she could get covered. That's what age doesn't matter. Your age helps you to recover a little bit better. The studies show, but then there are always the quirks, the anomalies, she would be considered probably an anomaly because she's only 30 instead of 60, she's having the same kinds of complications that an older person might have. The only thing that's really going in her favor is that she's been otherwise healthy. And her organs are holding up after six, eight, 10 days on a ventilator. Older people usually don't do that. Well, Those are things that are outside of our control. So all we can do is control the things we can control. And again, managing where you go, managing how you comport yourself. Those are things that you can control and you can't control other people. So you can't let the videos that you see on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook, where people are having their little mini melt. They don't start ranting about whether or not they should be wearing a mask. Just tune those folks out. They're not following the science. You need to be following the science. Listen to the doctors. Don't pay attention to the political pundants. They're not physicians. They don't know they're offering a political point of view. So listen to the doctors, follow the science, verify any information that you get from any other source, besides a physician, when in doubt, call your own physician And start by taking care of yourself, managing your stress well by staying hydrated, eating for nutrition and not for comfort, avoiding the junk food. Okay? Staying in tune with your body, through meditation and or prayer, or both breathing throughout the day, expanding your lungs, letting the air out slowly, Having fun, not forgetting that you need to do something that will take your mind off of all the stuff that's going on. You can even avoid the news to a certain extent, because a lot of it is just not going to make you happy at all. It's going to stress you out. And if you are a teacher who's experiencing a lot of uncertainty about what school is going to look like in the fall. The best thing I know to tell you is to follow your school. District's website, pay attention to the news alerts and the letters that they put out to their employees and to the public, and be prepared to ask good questions about what's going to be done to protect you. Should you wind up going back to your building in the fall? How are you going to be protected? And what will you be asked to do to protect your students? Those are questions that I would want to know if I were being asked to go back, Okay, There may be some things that are out of your control. And again, you just have to let those go, but do pay attention. The things you can control so that you feel less stressed and less anxious as we approach back to school time. So that's it for today. Take care of yourself, let go of the things you can't control, do the things that you can control, take care of yourself and be well, the safe and be kind with yourself and with others. That's it for today. If you would like to review this podcast, please do, uh, I'd love to hear from you thriller review or just a star review. And if you have questions, email me at Kitty Boitnott@gmail.com. Check me at teachersandtransition.com. Find me on LinkedIn. I can be found in a variety of different ways. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to answer your questions if you have any. And if you're thinking about changing career direction, this fall the cause of a concern about going back to school and exposing yourself to a potential, the potential for picking up the virus. And you already know that you're immune compromised. Let's talk, make an appointment, go to teachers and transition.com forward slash calendar and make an appointment so we can chat about what your options might be and what your future might look like. If you decided you wanted to leave teaching, that's mainly what I do. I help you figure out what your future can look like. Should you decide that teaching is no longer a part of your future? Have a wonderful week, enjoy the 4th of July this weekend, but stay safe, please, please, please stay safe. And I'll see you 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."