Oh my goodness, it’s finally here! The Teacher Wellbeing Podcast is LIVE!
At this stage there are only 2 ways to listen: via the Whooshkaa player embedded below, or if you’re an Apple user, on iTunes. Hopefully soon I’ll have figured out how to get it into the various players for Android operating systems, as well as YouTube. But at the moment I’m working on one technological learning curve at a time so Android listeners, thanks for your patience!
If you listen on iTunes, please do subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. Also if you leave a review, I’m having a little review competition so read on for more information about that!
In this episode, the host is in the hot seat. Seeing as I want a big part of this podcast to be about real teachers telling their stories, I figured I better lead by example. So I asked my friend Madison to interview me, who has known me since before I got ill and knows the whole story (so she could pull me up if I skipped something important — and she did!). I tell my story from ill-health to wellbeing in the education system, I share the changes I made in my life to prioritise my health and happiness, and explain what self-care means to me.
“When you’re not coping because of the way you’ve been neglecting yourself, that’s not a way I want to live my life anymore. As difficult and uncomfortable as it can be to overcome those feelings of guilt, as difficult as it can be to ask for help, to say no…it’s even more difficult and uncomfortable to neglect myself to the point where I become unable to contribute even to my own life, let alone to the people around me, let alone to the wider community.”
Ellen’s top tips for teachers:
- Be self-aware and in tune with how you’re feeling.
- Prioritise your physical health. Get enough sleep, get some level of exercise that works for you, eat well and do some kind of conscious relaxation practice.
- Check in with your ‘why’. Why are you teaching? Keep this top of mind. Ask yourself if the short term gains of immediate decisions are undermining the long term goal.
- Remember that done is better than perfect.
- Have self-compassion. Accept that you will make mistakes and be ok with that.
- Detach your self-worth from the day to day ups and downs of the job.
Have questions, comments, episode ideas or want to volunteer to be a guest on the show?
Get in touch with the Self-Care for Teachers team at hello [at] selfcareforteachers [dot] com [dot] au