Teacher Survival Kit: Stress Management

Teacher stress is no joke. There are conflicting statistics that float around the education world that anywhere between 17% and 40% of teachers quit before their 5 year anniversary. I would gather that many of those teachers still loved making an impact on students’ lives, and maybe they needed better stress management tools.

I witness it daily. Especially working in a socioeconomically disadvantaged school, teachers wear endless hats and juggle endless responsibilities throughout the work day.

Let’s try making that teacher juggling act a little easier on ourselves… some guilt-free, easy stress management tools to add to your Teacher Survival Kit.

⇒ Take a minute break.

Teachers have a tendency to feel every minute of every day has to be planned and purposeful.

**Side Note Teacher Peeps – Take this quiz online personality test and I BET Time Keeper and/or Deliverer will come up in your top 5 personality strengths. Comment below with your results!

Back to the point behind that, time management and scheduling are often strengths in the teaching professional. Even if they don’t come naturally, it’s something we continually work on and strive towards… almost obsess over.

But what if we were to take a minute, just a minute, and attempt to turn off our brains and our to-do lists.

I love these Stress Less Cards. They are quick tips and reminders of how to calm and curb our anxious feelings and some even help support sleep! They would also make a great teacher gift.

Think of these are adult versions of GoNoodle. We fully recognize the need for our students to have a “Brain Break”, but how often do we implement our own?

How about a one minute coloring session? Like this A Snarky Mandala Coloring Book. It could be before school, after school, during your conference (if you don’t have a meeting), when you first get home or before bed. If you’re determined, you can always find a minute.

⇒ Lavender Essential Oil

Not my favorite smell. However, when I learned more about how Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Lavender oil can interact with your brain, I decided it was worth the aroma.

In one study, scientists found that lavender can interact with the NMDA receptors in your brain. These receptors are important because they processes like learning and memory functions. They can also play a role in the central nervous system’s hyper-excitability.

Lavender has also been found by scientists to effect the serotonin in the brain and how it is transported. It can help “maintain proper serotonin activity, and proper serotonin activity promotes feelings of happiness and helps regulate appetite and sleep.” Read more specifics here! 

In other words, our bath products have been on to something well before we even realized it. The calming ability of unadulterated lavender is a great tool for the teacher stress toolbox.

Ways to use Lavender Essential Oil

1. Diffuse lavender essential oil at home, work or even in your car.
2. Apply lavender essential oil on the bottom of your feet or the back of your neck.
3. Spray your sheets with diluted lavender oil to help support sleep.
4. Add a few drops to an Epsom salt bath to support relaxation.

⇒ Balance – The Grounding Blend

When I thought my life was falling apart, a friend’s friend handed me a bottle of this blue, earthy essential oil. She told me to rub a drop of my neck and on my feet before bed and anytime I felt overwhelmed. I thought she was crazy.

It’s now not only the most important tool in my Teacher Stress Survival Kit, it’s a daily go-to in all aspects of my life.

Balance is a proprietary blend of Spruce Leaf, Ho Wood Leaf, Frankincense Resin, Blue Tansy Flower, Blue Chamomile Flower, and Osmanthus Flower essential oils in a base of Fractionated Coconut Oil.

Ways to use Balance Essential Oil

1. Diffuse! My favorite is to blend it with a drop of wild orange essential oil.
2. Apply a drop to your wrists every morning to help feel grounded and support clear thinking and decision making.
3. Add a few drops to a Stainless Steel Necklace Diffuser and wear throughout the day.
4. Use to support anxious feelings that may pop up throughout the day.

 

Where to buy these Lavender and Balance Oils?

Click here to purchase this therapeutic-grade essential oils. 

Why doTERRA essential oils?

It is important to understand the purity and potency of the products you’re using to promote your health and wellness. doTERRA essential oils are the onlyCertified Pure Therapeutic Grade oils on the market.

Learn more about exactly how doTERRA sources their plants from the natural habitats they grow in, distill the oils and test the them for purity and potency at www.sourcetoyou.com.

 

⇒ Join Forces

The best resource you have for teacher stress is in the classroom right next to yours or maybe right down the hall. We are far from the days of teachers in a one-room schoolhouse making decisions in isolation. Collaboration is key to teacher survival.

We cannot bare the load alone anymore. We must put down our pride and our insecurities and be willing to work interdependently. This not only will help your own stress levels at work, it may help a fellow teacher find more satisfaction in their work too. That’s win-win for kids and teachers.

If you have not read,Heart!: Fully Forming Your Professional Life As a Teacher and Leader (Cultivate Mindfulness and Foster Productive, Heart-Centered Classrooms and Schools) go ahead and do it NOW! It will change the way you work on a team as well as with your students. **A future post on JUST this book coming soon.**

Teachers – Your work is noble. It is honorable. It is selfless.
That’s all the more reason you have an obligation to take care of yourself.
Your colleagues depend on you. Your students depend on you. Their futures depend on you.

Go Be Brave Friends!

 

If you purchase anything from the links on the Balance Bravely blog, I may receive some kind of affiliate compensation. However, I only ever mention products I love and would recommend whether I was being compensated or not. Thank you so much for your support of Balance Bravely!