From Burnout to Balance: Prioritizing Self-Care as a Teacher

.

Preaching to the Choir

Time management. Probably the biggest butt-kicker in my day-to-day life. Maybe you’ve been there, struggling to get out of bed in the mornings. Rushing into the day and being bombarded with students shortly after walking in. Not getting everything done during planning time. Staying waaaaaay too late after the school day’s over. Then having to eat a quick, unhealthy meal because there wasn’t time to make anything else. And lastly, staying up late on your phone because you FINALLY have some time to yourself and want to juice every possible minute out of it. Which then, causes you to sleep in again because you only got 5-7 hours of sleep. Which, by the way, is nowhere near enough according to sleep science.

.

Why Balancing Time Matters

Time management is a form of self-care. It is essential because of the way it causes our work to bleed into every other aspect of life as well. I’ve seen children and spouses neglected and slowly pushed away because of it. I’ve felt burnout cause me to crash so hard mentally that it takes me days in bed to recover. I’ve been sick over and over and over because my immune system can’t keep up with this way of living. Especially not after the way the pandemic has affected it.

.

Leaving work at work and balancing time properly has, for me, become vital. Educators have to give their all at work each day. Some days, by the end, I am spent in every way- emotionally, physically, mentally. And students need me to show up as the best version of myself possible each day. (Not to say that the best version possible on a given day is anywhere near the absolute best version of us. Some days, the best we have is half as good as our true best, and that’s okay.) And this is all the more reason to prioritize self-care in the form of time management.

.

.

.

So, How Can I Actually Balance My Time Well?

Over the years, I’ve learned a few strategies to keep myself more in line. Not that I am always successful. I have to be very strict on myself if I want to see results because overworking is in my nature.

.

So, here are some practical steps you can take to regain control of your own time.

.

.

Set a Cut-Off Time

We’re starting with a really simple one. Commit to ending your workday at a specific time and actually leaving at this time. If you’re like me, you have no concept of what five minutes even feels like, especially if you’re hard at work. So don’t lie to yourself saying “Just five more minutes and I’ll go.” You sit on a throne of lies and won’t actually leave in five, the same way you’re not any more rested after a five-minute snooze alarm in the mornings. Truthfully, you need at least fifteen more minutes to get anything worthwhile accomplished. And once you’ve finished, you’ll still need to pack up, turn off the electronics, and get out of there.

.

.

So, hit the save button. Grab a sticky note and write down what you were in the middle of doing, then leave it on your keyboard, desk, or somewhere you’ll see it first thing in the morning. And go!😊

.

The best way for me to be aware of the time is to set alarms on my phone. And I don’t make them loud or frustrating. Because this is a change that I want to feel positive about, I make the alarms cute with my favorite emoji (bubbles). And I choose an uplifting sound to listen to. I also turn off the snooze button and force myself to listen to the alarm until I physically stop what I’m doing.

.

.

A couple of years ago, I worked with a teacher who began this journey for herself and, for the new year, set a resolution to leave work on time. We talked about how I was struggling with the same thing, so I would try to begin leaving at the same time as her each day. One day, in particular, stuck with me. She was leaving and looked over at me from the doorway to ask “What are you doing?” Before I could answer, she told me, “Come on, you’re leaving too.”

.

I laughed and told her there was no way! I was in the middle of something and my desk was a mess. I also remember saying to her “I like to clean up my desk so it’ll be ready for me when I come in tomorrow.” Which, to be clear, is still something I find important and most days there is time for a quick tidy. But sometimes, the extra work is not as important as going home and having time for other things that matter. So, she replied to me, “Your desk will be there tomorrow. The work will be there tomorrow. Leave it and come on!” She walked closer to my desk and waited for me to grab my stuff and leave with her.

.

This felt semi-ridiculous, but it’s a lesson that has stuck with me! She didn’t let off the slack that day, she stood by what she asked of me. And since then, I’ve realized how important it is for me to do the same with myself.

.

Another way to ensure that I’ll be done in time for the timer is to choose my tasks wisely. When I have planning time, I look at my to-do list and choose tasks that will fit into the amount of time I have.

.

Which leads me to my next suggestion:

.

.

Lists, Lists, Lists

Everyone is different about lists. I like mine on a sheet of paper, but often I’ll pull out my notes app or a sticky note instead. There are also great programs online you can use. Digital planners, apps like Monday, Google Docs, or Google Sheets.

.

I use every one of these depending on what’s available to me or what I feel like using that day.

.

Where you create them is not as important as what they contain.

.

Maybe you don’t think you’re a to-do list kind of person because you can remember what you have to get done. However the purpose of the lists, in this case, is to prioritize and deprioritize different tasks. This way, when you sit down to begin working, you can work with intention and purpose knowing what is most important.

.

To prioritize my to-do lists, I first brain-dump everything onto a sheet. And when I inevitably think of more things as time goes on, I dump them there as well. After this, I go through the list and add a little symbol (I like to use hearts) beside the highest-priority tasks. After this, there will be a few that almost made the cut, that I still really want/need to get to. So, these will be marked with a different symbol. The rest of the items on my list stay unmarked and get done when I find the time. If you’d like structure for those, though, you can write the date you’d like to have them completed by beside each one.

.

.

Now, if you like how your list looks, you’re ready for the next step! But if not, you can rewrite the list on another sheet of paper with different categories, for example: ASAP, Today, By Friday, By End of Nine Weeks. I’ll show you an example below.

.

Now, when you sit down to begin planning, you can decide how you want to begin. I use three different methods to choose my tasks for each planning session. Looking at the highest priority tasks I will choose one of these three methods:

.

.

1. Save the best for last. Or, truthfully, it’s just getting the least desirable one done first. Then I can move on to what I enjoy afterwards.

.

2. Highest priority first. This way, the stressful task looming over my head is done and I can move on to less urgent things. And, often, this fits along with the “Save the best for last” method because the highest priority task may be the least desirable one as well.

.

3. What can I get done? This method works best if none of your high-priority tasks are any more urgent than another. With this method, I look at all of the high-priority tasks and think about how much time each of them will take. With this in mind, I will choose to get done whichever ones will fit into the amount of planning time I have at that time. So, if I have a thirty-minute planning period, I may choose a ten-minute task and a twenty-minute one.

.

./

Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing

If you’ve watched The Bachelorette, I hope you enjoyed that quote.

.

Checklists aren’t the only place where it’s important to prioritize. You also have to realize that work- your job- is not your everything. Work is amazing. It is so fulfilling and rewarding, but it should not be your entire life. If it is, then this step is for you.

.

Before you can truly manage your time and have success in doing so, you need to address the root issue- the sickness, not just the symptoms. You need to sit down and truly decide what you want the priorities to be in your life. Then, everything you do can flow from that place.

.

As a college student, I juggled many things. I lived at home and was able to commute to my college since it was local. Because of this, I was also able to work part-time, babysit, do ministry in the nearby community, go to Bible study, and spend time with friends. What this caused, though, was a stretching of myself that may not have been healthy. I was doing so many different things that I didn’t have the energy to bring myself fully to any of them. I could only give a little of myself to each thing, instead of saving space to bring all of myself to just a few of them. Throughout those years, my dad would remind me of two things: “You make time for what’s important to you.” and “Focus on the main thing, and keep it the main thing.” The main thing for me during those years, was college. And though I knew that my title at the time was “College Student”, my life did not reflect that. College fell in with the juggling pins as I ran my own circus.

.

What I learned from that, is that your life will reflect what you have prioritized, and unfortunately, no plan is still a plan. Meaning that not choosing how to prioritize your time, is still a choice. And your time will get spent somewhere, but without your intentionality, it may not go where you want it to go.

.

So, what is your Main Thing?

.

Make a list of what you want your priorities to be. Some ideas of things that might be on your list are: family, being a mom, spending time with the Lord, spending time with friends, being in nature, exercising, spending time with your spouse, working on your side-hustle, or volunteering in the community. And somewhere closer to the bottom of that list can be the word “work”. I don’t mean this to devalue the job of being an educator. Quite the opposite, I think this job is extremely important and has a huge impact on the world. It is because of this, that you need to prioritize your time outside of work, living by your first name and being who you are, so that when you walk in that door, those rugrats that call you by your last name can know that they are getting the best version of you.

.

This list you’ve made should be in the back of your mind at all times as the driving factor for how you live your life and manage your time.

.

If your main thing is being a mom, then use this as your driving force for leaving work on time. Your children won’t remember how hard you worked at your job, they’ll remember how you put them first, spending your time with them and giving them the best parts of yourself.

.

.

If your main thing is health, then spend your time on that- making time to prepare healthy meals, exercise, and get plenty of sleep each night.

.

What I mean in saying all of this is that work should not be your everything. It should fall in its appropriate place in line with the list of priorities you have for your life.

..

At The End of The Day

My final piece of advice is to have a good bedtime routine. One that makes you look forward to it. I won’t go into too much detail on this one, because it isn’t the point of the post, but I will give a few pointers.

.

Sleep is a time when your body and brain wash themselves clean of the toxins from the day, preparing you for a new day. So getting the amount that you know is best for your body is important. I also use a sunrise alarm clock and a sleep debt-tracking app to help me with this.

.

In order to get this sleep, you need to have an evening routine that gets you to the bed and to sleep in time.

.

.

Instead of fighting to have control of my own time by sitting on my phone, I use journaling to help me feel a sense of completeness about the day that’s coming to a close. I write down at least three things that I’m grateful for (There’s lots of science about how gratitude shifts your mindset- plus it’s Biblical! So this goes back a long time.) If you are spiritual, you can also use this journaling time to pray and read the Bible.

.

Skin care is so soothing for me, so I enjoy the opportunity to take care of my skin before bed as well. Whatever you find that soothes and relaxes you for the day is good to incorporate into your bed time routine.

.

Try to also avoid screens and food before bed, this allows your body to produce the melatonin it needs to make you sleepy. Then, you can enjoy a rejuvenating night’s sleep in order to feel prepared to take on and conquer the next day!

..

Your Turn

Truly, I just want you to feel like you are living your life, and not like life is happening to you. This profession is a tough one and we need all the tools we can get to help us thrive in it.

.

So, to recap, here are the topics discussed in this post.

Balancing your time well MATTERS because it affects every aspect of your life, well-being, and relationships. You can balance your time better by…

.

• Setting a cut-off time for yourself at work. Set timers to help with this, and actually stop working when the timer goes off, even if you don’t want to. Managing your time well means being a bit hard on yourself and setting strict boundaries. It’ll be hard at first, but once you see the positive changes it makes in your life, you’ll begin to see how worthwhile it is.⏰
  • .
• Lists. Make these by brain-dumping onto a list in the format of your preference. Then, prioritize what’s on the list and choose which method you want to use in each of your planning sessions: saving the best for last, beginning with the most urgent, or choosing which ones fit in the amount of time you have.📋
  • .
• Decide what your priorities are. Write out what your priorities are in this season of life and use that as the basis for how you decide to spend your time. Work doesn’t need to be at the top of your list, so decide what does and let that be what motivates you to have strict boundaries in your work-life balance. 🩷
  • .
• Have a bedtime routine that works for you. If you don’t have enough rest, anything else you do will be a struggle. So prioritize having a nighttime routine that you look forward to. One that prepares you for rest and transitions you into a time of sleep and restoration for the day that is to come. 🛏️

.

I hope that this post has helped you by empowering you to feel like you CAN manage your time in a way that helps you live the life you want to live. You can leave work at work and be yourself when the day is done, however that looks for you.

.

Know that I am in this battle with you and I believe in you! You are wonderful and deserve to live a life filled with good things and lots of love. Remember to leave room for it.🩷

.

All the best,

.

If you’re interested in any of the products I mentioned, I will link them all here for you. They work for me and I wanted to share all of my tips and tricks!

• Monday (List-Making App)
• Hatch Sunrise Alarm Clock
• Rise Science Sleep App

Also, if you are a TpT user and need products to save you time by allowing you to print and go, please consider checking out my TpT Store. It is linked below. I work really hard on it and believe in my products, so I hope you find things that you enjoy.

If you’d like to preview any of my products, you can find them on my Home Page.

God bless!

🩷