Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition - Episode 81 - Stress Management Tools for Teachers

October 12, 2020 Kitty Boitnott
Teachers in Transition
Teachers in Transition - Episode 81 - Stress Management Tools for Teachers
Show Notes Transcript

Teachers are more overloaded and overwhelmed than ever. They have always had a lot thrown at them, but now they are being asked to go the extra extra mile. Some are teaching remotely. Some are teaching a hybrid model. Some are teaching in-person with or without the proper precautions in place. And some are being asked to do both!!!

It isn't sustainable!

As teachers, you must start to take care of yourselves or you will buckle under the pressure. That is why I am offering a free webinar workshop on Saturday, October 17, 2020, at 2:00 PM EST for teachers--or anyone--who can use specific strategies for better managing your stress.

To register for the workshop, click here:  https://event.webinarjam.com/register/18/77l4rag

If you would like to take the stress assessment test that I mentioned in this episode, click here:  https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/stress-assessment/

If you would like the cheat sheet on stress management I mentioned, click here:  https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/cheat-sheet-on-stress-management/

And if you would like to download the ebook that I wrote a while back called, Stressed, Stretched, and Just Plain Overwhelmed: A Guide to Managing Your Stress and Developing a Greater Sense of Work-Life Balance 

Speaker 1:

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 burn 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 to 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 and transition.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back to episode. I think this is 81 of teachers in transition, the podcast and the YouTube channel. My name is Katie[inaudible]. I'm the owner of[inaudible] coaching and the founder of teachers in transition. I'm a certified stress management and life strategies coach, and I'm also a heart centered career transition and job search coach. I specialize in working with teachers who are burnt out and ready to explore new career opportunities. If you've listened to me in the past, you know that I alternate topics one week, I talk about stress management strategies and on alternating weeks, I talk about career transition. So this week the topic is stress. And I want to ask you, and I want you to be honest with yourself on a scale of one to 10, how stressed are you right now? And if you answer but 12, join the club. There are lots of people in that category with you. Teachers have been overloaded and overwhelmed for years. They've also been experiencing bouts of low morale and wondering if they've made a mistake by going into teaching, they love their kids to the person that I talked to, all the teachers that I've ever chatted with or talked with will tell me quickly. I still love the kids. It's all the other crap I can't put up with anymore. And this year there's more crap than usual. If you're a teacher, you may be teaching remotely, or you may be teaching a hybrid model, or you may be teaching a in person at your school with or without safety measures being taken. And there are many of you who are being asked to do both. You're teaching virtually as you are teaching in person it's not sustainable. I know it's a hard decision for policy makers, school, board members, the people who have to make a decision superintendents, all the people who have to make a decision about bringing children back into school. And I'm the first one to say that kids need school. They need it for socialization. They need it first for appropriate development. They need school, but they don't need school at the risk of their own health and safety and lives. And they certainly don't need it at the risk of their teachers, safety, health, and lives. So I could go on about that, but there's no point what I, the, the point is that if you're a teacher, you're probably feeling more stressed than you or ordinarily be feeling. Normally I don't start talking about burnout for teachers until sometime in February. It's just the middle of October. And I know from my conversations with my students and, and with the people who call me and contact me sometimes out of the blue, they call them the middle of the day. I need to talk to you as soon as possible. You're stressed, you're overwhelmed, you're overloaded. So what I want to offer today, and I'll apologize in advance. If it sounds promotional, this is free, but I am going to suggest that if you're feeling stressed out, you need to sign up for a free webinar workshop that I am offering on Saturday, October 17th, at 2:00 PM Eastern, I'm going to be talking about the following topics as they relate to stress and stress management tools specifically for teachers. And I'm going to be speaking first to mindset, which has to do with attitude and paradigm shifting. I'll be talking about the importance of self care, intentional, deliberate, self care, taking care of yourself, mentally, physically, emotionally. I'm going to be talking about the importance of managing your workload. And there are a variety of ways that you can do that. Even in the midst of this pandemic, I'm going to share with you how I believe that using Mel Robbins, his five second rule can help. As you go about trying to manage proactively and effectively the stress of your day to day life, I'm going to speak. This is also really important for a lot of people, how to set healthy boundaries. Right now you're being asked to do a million different things. And you may not feel like you have the authority, the power or the wherewithal to say no to some of the stuff that you're being asked to do. I want to suggest to you, however that you have that capacity, you don't want to say no to everything, but there are some things that you can logically easily say, no, I'm not doing that. Thank you. But no, I'm not. So it takes building the muscle. The ability to say, no, some of us are such people pleasers. We don't know how to say no, but it can. It's a skill that can be learned. So we'll talk about healthy boundaries. And finally, we'll talk about how it's important to know when and how to ask for help. You know, at school you don't want to ask for so much help that you appear to be helpless. That turns principals and administrators off, but you do want to be wise enough, professional enough to ask for help when you need it. And you need to understand there's a certain protocol that you should follow when you are going about the business of asking for help, whether it's from a colleague, a department chair, or from an administrator. So we'll talk about that. On Saturday, this webinar workshops totally free. I'll offer the link in the show notes below, and you can sign up and then plan to be there. So one time I'm not offering it as a series. It's a one time webinar workshop called stress tools for teachers, stress management tools for teachers. And I'll be speaking specifically to teachers, but honestly it doesn't matter if you're a teacher or not. If you're feeling stressed and overloaded and overwhelmed because of the pandemic and all of the changes that have been thrown at you over the last six to seven months, if you have anxiety about what the future is going to hold, then this is a workshop that you need to play into a tent. So sign up, be there live so you can ask your questions as you need to. On Saturday, October 17th, 2:00 PM. Eastern, the link is in the show notes below, and I'm also going to include the link to the stress assessment that I offer as a free tool for helping you to determine how high, how elevated is your stress level. It's a 32 question questionnaire. If you answer 10 or more questions, yes, then you are overstressed. So you might want to take a chance at that. Take a look at it. I'll also offer the cheat sheet on seven strategies for managing your stress. And I'll include the link to the free ebook that I wrote a number of years ago called stressed, stretched, and just plain overwhelmed. You might find some of the strategies they're helpful. So I'm offering lots of resources. I'll be offering resources on Saturday as well. So please think about joining me if you are feeling stressed out. And if you don't feel stressed out that you have a colleague, a friend, a family member who is suffering from overload, feel free to share the link with them. I'd love to have a packed house so that I can share what I know about the importance of all of these measures, mindset, self care, managing your workload, setting, healthy boundaries, knowing when to ask for help and the five second rule. So that's it for today. If you have any questions, please email me@katieboynineatgmail.com. Please leave a review of the, of the teachers in transition podcast, or subscribe to the teachers and transition YouTube channel. If you're watching this on video, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to see what you think. If these episodes are useful to you and helpful, please let me know. That is not only good feedback for me, but as far as the podcast goes, it helps other people to find the podcast. If you find it helpful, then other people might find it helpful and offering a review can help to attract other people to listen to the podcast. And the YouTube channel needs need subscribers as well. So that's it for today. Please stay safe. Be well, please take care of yourself. And I hope to see you on Saturday, October 17th at 2:00 PM Eastern. I love to see you there. Bye for now. So there

Speaker 1:

You have it. An episode of teachers in transition. I hope you enjoy 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 kitty Boitnott at Boyd, not coaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. I'm kitty Boitnott. And this is teachers in transition.