Stress is at an all-time high in this country, and for many good reasons. Inflation is on the rise, student debt is back on the table, racial strife abounds and gun violence is an ever-present danger in too many of our cities and suburbs.
The thing is you can't let it get the best of you. So, use strategies to help you get a handle on it before it makes you sick.
In this week's episode on stress management, Kitty offers an article from Healthline.com on 16 ways to relieve stress and anxiety. To read the article, click this link: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-ways-relieve-stress-anxiety.
If your job is what has you down, then, consider attending the webinar workshop that Kitty is offering FREE Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 7:00 PM. She is going to offer seven (7) specific ways to get in touch with your passion and purpose in life. To register, click here: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/49/y80l4u7q.
Stress is at an all-time high in this country, and for many good reasons. Inflation is on the rise, student debt is back on the table, racial strife abounds and gun violence is an ever-present danger in too many of our cities and suburbs.
The thing is you can't let it get the best of you. So, use strategies to help you get a handle on it before it makes you sick.
In this week's episode on stress management, Kitty offers an article from Healthline.com on 16 ways to relieve stress and anxiety. To read the article, click this link: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-ways-relieve-stress-anxiety.
If your job is what has you down, then, consider attending the webinar workshop that Kitty is offering FREE Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 7:00 PM. She is going to offer seven (7) specific ways to get in touch with your passion and purpose in life. To register, click here: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/49/y80l4u7q.
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 feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is kitty boy. Not I'm a career transition and job search coach. And I specialize in helping burnout out teachers just like you deal, not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day to day job, but to consider what other career 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 boy, not welcome to teachers in transition.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of teachers in transition the podcast in the YouTube channel.
Speaker 1:My name is
Speaker 2:Kitty boy, not I am the owner of boy, not coaching LLC, and the founder of teachers in transition. I'm a heart centered career transition and job search coach. Who's specializes in working with burnout teachers who are ready to make a career change, but don't know how or where to begin because I am also a certified stress management coach on this podcast and the YouTube channel. I alternate topics. One week I talk about stress management and, uh, alternating weeks. I talk about career transition. Sometimes I mingle the two and on occasion I promote an upcoming workshop as it happens. I have an upcoming workshop, but I'll speak to that shortly today. The topic is stress management. And what I want to do is to share 16 ways to better manage your stress proactively and more effectively from an article, uh, from healthline.com and it's called 16 simple ways to relieve stress. And I will include a link to the article in the show notes so that you can take a look at it and, and more be look at it more comprehensively that I'm going to share it today. But I am going to share the 16 top suggestions for how to better manage your stress. The first one, not surprisingly is to get more physical activity, you know, just going for a walk, taking the dog with you or just a brisk walk around the neighborhood can make a huge difference in your outlook can give you, uh, the, the pit of endorphins that help to lift your mood and make you feel more calm. So a lot of benefits come from exercising more, and I think that we can agree that most people don't get the exercise that they need, and it becomes a habit that you're not making time for the physical activity that your body really needs in order to function at its proper level. So whether, and if, if walking IST your thing, find something that you do enjoy. It might be swimming. It might be going to the gym and lifting weights. It might be running. I have a friend who is an avid runner, whatever it is for you commit to it at least two or three times a week to start. And then maybe you can work in a fourth workout and, and, but over time, get daily exercise one way or the other you'll immediately notice a difference. I promise I have committed to walking 30 minutes a day, and I have a path that I've created in my neighborhood. I have to backtrack for part of the path to get in a full 30 minutes, but that has been my commitment and I've kept to it for the last two months. So I'm proud of my myself for that accomplishment. And I, I hope to build up to 45 minutes next. And then an hour. My ultimate goal is 10,000 steps a day. And I'm nowhere near that now, but that is my goal. So get more exercise, be more physical. You'll sleep better. You'll feel better overall. Just trust me, unknown. Hang on. I'm sorry. All right. But the second thing is to follow a healthy diet. Now, you know, already, you've heard all of the wisdom about fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, whole grains foods that are not high process that are not full of corn syrup and sodium. You need to pay attention to the fact that the, the rawer, the more the fresher, um, the more green your vegetables are, the more fruit you eat raw, the better for you, better for your digestion, better for your overall health. The third suggestion from this article is to minimize phone use and screen time. You may not even be aware of how often I know I'm not. And, and I'm bad about picking up the phone and checking it every few minutes. I am a Twitter follower. So I'm always looking to see what's the latest thing on Twitter. I'm a Facebook user and I check out Facebook every, every day. I use my phone a lot and I feel lost when I don't have it. And you've probably had the same sensation that you've gotten in the car and gotten halfway where you're going and suddenly, oh gosh, where's my phone. And there's this sense of panic, which means it's not good to be that attached to your devices. So try to take a break from screen time from, uh, checking all of your social media. There's a time and a place for that, but don't let it become so involving that you lose track. And you know, really, it really bothers me when I'm in a restaurant and I see couples and families all on their devices. None of them talking, there's no, no discussion, you know, family time anymore. So you need to make a commitment that at least during meals nobody's brings their phone to the, to the table. You might also, this is, uh, tip number four, consider supplements. There are some things that can help you to feel calmer, less stressed. Um, now you might wanna check in with your doctor about that before you try to take anything, but a to this article, there was an eight week study in which 264 people with low magnesium found that taking 300 milligrams of this, the mineral magnesium daily helped to reduce their stress. And combining this dose of magnesium with vitamin B E six was even more effective. So talk to your physician about whether or not you might need a supplement to help you with your stress. Tip. Number five is to practice self care and they include going for a walk outside, taking up bath. I love bubble baths, lighting candles can be calming reading a good book, exercise, preparing a healthy meal stretching before bedtime getting a, I have committed to, to a massage per month. I have one coming up this week that I'm looking forward to it's part of my self care routine. So if you can afford it, do that. It's a, it's a great habit to develop practice a hobby that helps you to relax, uh, use a diffuser with calming sense. If you, if you'd like practicing yoga, these are some of the suggestions that they offer for help with self care. Um, they also recommend that maybe, um, this is embedded in the same tip using aromatherapy, uh, exposing yourself to the scent of lavender that's especially calming, but others that they mention are rose vever. I don't even know what that is. Bergamot Roman Camael Franken sent sandalwood Lang Lang orange or orange blossom and geranium. Uh, so you might wanna give those a try tip number six, reduce your caffeine intake. Caffeine can compound stress if you're not careful. And I know a lot of people are, you know, they, I am, I need my coffee in the morning. And so what I've done as a compromise is that I, when I fix my pot of coffee, I use two scoops of de decaffeinated and then one scoop of caffeinated. And that is my compromise to my feeling that reducing caffeine is a good thing to do. Tip number seven, spend time with friends and family, you know, we've become so isolated during the pandemic, that there is real concern among mental health professionals, that the fallout of the restrictions that we had, the fear that we developed over, you know, not wanting to catch COVID, um, the stress of having perhaps a, a sick relative that you couldn't visit in the hospital of someone dying, and you couldn't have a funeral or a proper, uh, celebration of that a person's life. We had a long period of time when people were not able to have visitations or get, get togethers and, and the people who lost their loved ones during that critical time were deprived of a ritual that we need as human beings. So there are all kinds of deprivations that we've experienced. Now, it's time to get together with family and friends and catch up with one another. And zoom has its place. I've used zoom a lot over the last couple of years to stay in touch with friends and family who are distant, but there's nothing that replaces being together in person tip number eight. And this is a tough one, especially for a lot of people. I know, create bound boundaries and learn to say no. Sometimes the stress you experience is self inflicted because you haven't learned how to set boundaries. And you haven't learned to say no. And honest to goodness. Once you have learned that simple word, you don't have to offer an excuse. You don't have to rationalize no is all. You need to be able to say, no, I can't do that. I, and you can, you can offer some sympathy. I'm sorry, I can't do that, but no, I can't do it. So learn to say no, practice it on unimportant things. So that if something really big comes up, that you feel really guilty about saying no to, but you still know, you need to say, no, you'll be prepared. Number nine, learn to avoid procrastination, you know, procrastinating on an important project. Or if you school of paper or grading, if you're a teacher grading papers or making lesson plans, procrastinating simply adds to your sense of stress and anxiety and it's self imposed. And I, I know a lot of people who do it and I've been guilty of it myself, but I've learned not to like that since that sort of rush of adrenaline of, oh my God, I've gotta get this done or else. So do yourself a favor and learn how to start doing things before the last minute and see if it doesn't help you with your stress tip number 10 is to take a yoga class. You can start out with a gentle yoga class, and then you can go to a more traditional level if you like, but the stretching can really help with your stress. And it's a good, good way to, to start tip. Number 11 is practice mindful. Mindfulness is becoming really big, especially in our schools because we have learned that children who practice mindfulness tend to act out less and behave better, but it's something that we have to be taught. Otherwise we just sort of tend to react to things that are happening around us. Instead of responding, mindfulness helps us to learn how to respond instead of react, which is a higher level of activity in our brain tip number 12, cuddle cuddle with, and, and this is a difficult one. If you're single and don't have anyone to cuddle with, but if you have a significant other, if you have a child, you have someone who just needs a hug, maybe cuddling is beyond what you can support, but a, a good long bear hug can go a long way toward helping people to feel supported. And we are human beings. We need touch and we enjoy cuddling. So cuddle,<affirmative> get some cuddle time in, if you can tip number 13, spend time in nature, again, going for a walk or a hike. While I was just thinking this morning that I wish I knew where there was a lake that I could walk around. I used to live in a housing development where there was a lake literally in, in my backyard. And I would go down to, there was a walking path around it. It was very peaceful. It was just something about the water that I found peace by walking around that it wasn't very big, but it was, it was delightful to have it in the backyard so that I could walk down through, uh, the woods and, and boom, be right there at the lake. So find time that you enjoy doing something you enjoy in nature, tip number 14. And this one is an easy one and it's free and you can do it any time of the day. Uh, anyhow, practice D keep breathing. What you wanna do is to fill your lungs all the way down to your diaphragm, breathe through your nose and out through your mouth. Although I've heard recommendations that it's even better to breathe in through your nose and out through your nose. So, but breathing in through your nose is important as opposed to breathing in through your mouth, but breathe all the way down to your diaphragm. Tip number 15, spend time with your pet. I have two old dogs on occasion. You might hear them barking in back around today. Right now they're asleep and not, not bothered with anything that's going on in the neighborhood, but I love cuddling with them and they love cuddling with me. So maybe you could, you cuddle time in with your pet, but I was just thinking the other day about how the only thing they know is the moment they're not anticipating what's gonna happen next. They're not looking forward to the next thing. They are totally in the moment. And we could learn a lesson from that that would help us with our mindfulness. For sure. It would help us perhaps to understand that there's no point in, um, worrying about what's what maybe is gonna happen, what hasn't happened yet. You want to, um, remind yourself to be in the moment and to let go of the things that you cannot control. That's one of the things that when I'm in, when I'm doing a stress management workshop, that I talk about a lot, we need to let go of the things we cannot control. We need to recognize the things that we can control and take action over were those things, but consider all of the things that you don't have any control over. I have just for myself, I've just come through a really difficult year, uh, or almost to the year it's next week will be the actual anniversary, but, and not to go into any great detail, but just to give you a sense of the stress and anxiety that I have personally dealt with this past year on May 9th, 2021, which we're not quite there yet, but almost May 9th, 2021 on mother's day. My sister and I became concerned when our brother didn't show up for a mother's day call that we had scheduled ahead of time. I had been trying to call him the week before to see if he had been vaccinated and that maybe the three of us could get together in person, because we hadn't been together in person for the year and a half going on two years since COVID had hit. And he didn't answer the phone, which is not unusual, but what was unusual was that he didn't call me back. I was concerned. I was puzzled wondered, you know, I called several times and he didn't call me back, but it really didn't occur to me that it was anything wrong until he didn't show up for the prearranged call. He was very dependable and we both knew something is wrong. So ultimately we called the Sheriff's office and had them to go out and check and they found him and he had been dead for several days. I think that's probably the hardest part. It of the whole ordeal that he had been there alone. He lived alone. He was sort of a, a loner and had become more so during COVID. And so we're not sure, but think maybe he died before the end of April. And was there during that week and a half leading up to May 9th, when he was found from the moment we heard that everything changed clearly, you know, we went from the three siblings, the core family unit down to my sister and me, and then decisions about what to do with the home place. He had not left a wheel. So we had to mu through figuring out the best way to handle is a state. It's been, it's been a difficult year, but we've made it through. And we just closed on the house, which was our home place and part of our family for 102 years. So it's, it's been a year been quite the journey. And I have had to remind myself on occasion that there were certain things that I have had control over. And a lot of things I didn't have any control over. And I had to do the best I could and take care of myself in the process so that it didn't do me in. So we all have something in our lives. Some period of struggle and strife that causes additional stress. All of us are suffering right now with the stress of COVID and its fallout. Even though we thought we were through it with all the variants, who knows if we'll ever be actually through with, COVID kinda like the flu, it's just part of the routine, but we have to do what we can to take care of ourselves. So what they say in the article is that the bottom line is that all those stress is an unavoidable part of life. Unavoidable being chronically stressed, takes a toll on your physical and mental health. Fortunately, several evidence based strategies can help you release or reduce stress and improve your overall psychological wellbeing, exercise, mindfulness, spending time with the pet minimizing screen time and getting outside more often or all effective methods. So I'll include the, the articles linked in the show notes so that you can take a look really good information, nothing new. We've all heard all of it before, but you know, it it's hearing it is one thing, but putting some of these practices into practice is another thing. So hope, hope you'll be able to take at least one, one of these suggestions to heart enough, that you are willing and able to incorporate one of the activities in your day to day world on that note, take care, stay well. Oh, I was, I was gonna offer that I'm I am doing a workshop coming up Thursday night, which will be tonight. When you hear this, or May 5th at 7:00 PM Eastern, I'll include the link to the registration page as well. I'm doing a webinar workshop on how to find your passion and purpose. If you're on my email list, you know, you've been getting a string of emails and newsletters about that topic. Uh, it's a whole series on how to find how to identify your passion and purpose. Partly because people who are actually living their passion are living their best lives. And partly because if you can identify your passion and identify your purpose, and then look for a job or career that helps you to yourself with your passion and purpose, you really start to live your best life. And you may be feeling stressed out and unhappy because the, the work that you're doing is not in alignment with your passion and purpose right now, which only adds to your stress. Please join me May 5th, 7:00 PM. Eastern. Uh, you'll have a, a link that you need to click on and register in order to get the link to the webinar workshop. But you're more than welcome to join me. I hope you will join me the seven strategies for fine, your passion and purpose work, because I've used them with success. And I want to share them with you. So if you are interested in that topic, passion and purpose, sign up for the work webinar workshop, and that is it for today. Have a wonderful week. Like I said, stay well and stay safe. And I'm, I'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: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 kitty boy, not boy.coaching.com. If you are interested in find a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. I'm kitty boy not. And this is teachers in transition.