Hey y'all! I just attended a two-day long professional development workshop for teachers, from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm each day. I really enjoyed the workshop and our speaker was amazing. It was her first regional workshop upon receiving her certificate or license to be a workshop leader for our teaching community. After spending long hours at work facing my laptop, I really needed that time out from my gadgets and having said so, I was not so active on Steemit platform. Meh.

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

In one of the sessions we had, in our own groups, we were asked to look into our planning documents and apply what we have just learned from the workshop for our next lesson, or any lesson in the future by the end of the term. I was in the same group with two other teachers, let's just call them, Belle and Ariel. Belle has many years of teaching experience and Ariel is in her third year of teaching. Ariel and I wrote all the essential details on the poster paper given to us for presentation later while Belle sat down and watch us from a distance. She helped us with the whole lot of brainstorming before that, but Ariel and I thought she must have been feeling tired after long hours of workshop. By the way, the lesson that we selected was for Belle, and this brainstorming session has definitely helped her in so many ways for her upcoming lessons. We observed that Belle was super excited with the outlook of the poster we made.

Literally, 2 minutes later, just before we were about to present, she told Ariel that she was not going to present the poster and left some awful remarks too. Feeling so confused, Ariel told me about it. We were ready to present it if we need to, since Belle was not keen to do so - but the poster was on Belle's table. At this point, Ariel was quite p*ssed because Belle has been doing this to her since the first day Belle joined our team, well for most of the time. When the speaker shifted her focus to our group, Belle stood up, took the poster and threw it on our table group. Everyone in the room was shocked. Jaw dropped in amazement. The next thing that happened was even more mind-blowing. Ariel stood up, took the poster and walked right next to Belle. She started presenting and gently asked Belle to help explain the main idea since it was about her lessons, not mine, not Ariel's. Belle was just giggling and shook her head continuously... until our speaker told her off, 'Just read it!' in a super firm tone.

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Oh gosh, can you imagine that?! There was only one word in my mind. CHILDISH. I have to be honest here - I was not being attentive to the remaining presentations after us, because I've got super curious and all wild wonderings are running through my mind. I came to one big question, "What is the thing that changed Belle's mood within that 2 minutes to behave in such manner? Or... could it be an accumulation of 'things'?" We were about 25 minutes away for our lunch break. I kept asking myself if I should ask Belle, and how should I approach her respectfully. And yes, for Ariel, she was absolutely angry and she kept venting her anger to me via typing on Word document. xD

To cut the story short, I took the risk and approached Belle during lunch time. I found all the answers to my big question. Belle was trying to contact the daycare centre to check on her son several times but no one answered the phone call, so she was worried about that. While she was watching us from a distance when we were working on the poster, she received work emails about the upcoming school assembly that her class will be hosting this time, report cards, parent-teacher conferences schedule, and our Book Week schedule. She was also nervous for her Wednesday night's date with a guy that she met recently (she's a single mom btw). I continued to listen until she eventually slowed down and realized that she has not been kind to others and more importantly, to herself. She also admitted that she definitely needs help with stress management, and she added that it was a 'culture' thing for her to behave in that manner to others. Mmm, to me, it was not about a 'culture' thing, but it was more of 'mindset' thing. Anyway, at the end of the conversation, she excused herself to make another phone call to the daycare centre. Sadly, she did not apologize to Ariel or made any effort to talk it out with Ariel. :(

Teacher Stress is Real!

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I understand that every profession has its own stress points. The focus for this post would be for teachers. If you are a teacher and you are reading this, please do not compare your workload with Belle's. Each of us has and will eventually reach(ed) our breaking points, and for some, burnouts. This is all-inclusive of both personal and professional stress points. Nevertheless, with some happy ways or strategies, we can all curb our teacher stress positively. Here are some of the ways that I use whenever I am feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps you may consider using some of these suggestions. Please don't forget to share yours too, in the comments below.

Unplug, Sleep and Refocus

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Sleeping does wonders. A good sleep is as effective as exercising and eating healthy meals. I can go to bed as early as 6:00 pm and wake up the next day at about 5:30 am or 6:00 am. A solid 12-hour long sleep without interruptions. I will not take heavy meals prior to these long hours of sleep; I would do heavy eating on fruits and drinking many glasses of water. Personally, after those long hours, I feel that I am able to concentrate better and work efficiently to complete my pending tasks. It made me feel like I was able to retain and consolidate things in my head after sleeping. Well, it worked perfectly fine for me. It is a time of hibernation, for me. LOL

Do Your Favourite Things

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Aha, yes, I love watching TV!!! I agree with you, that we all need some self-control in our lives, which explains why I do not subscribe to Netflix because I might not just sleep for days, just staring at the TV. Hahahaha! Teachers, take time for yourself and do your favourite things. This is a quintessential form of self-love and self-care. Even better, plan it out or make it as a weekly or monthly routine. My favourite things to do are pedicure, manicure, massage, cafe hopping, shopping, watching TV, listening to music, and of course, sleeping. In fact, Ariel and I went for our much needed dose of Thai massage yesterday. Instead of entertaining the gossips and negative talks, we can use those time to do our favourite things. Come on teachers, we have sacrificed more than half a day for others on weekdays (our students, colleagues, and class parents), and it is only fair for us to reserve the remaining hours for ourselves.

Have a Strong Support System

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Firstly, we need to remember that eventually, we will accomplish all the pending tasks. What makes it even more productive is the support system we have with us. Over the years, I am so blessed to have a strong support system with me. If there is one thing that I learned the most in this area, it would be to have a diverse set of support systems, in and out of our school community. Trust me, we really need to develop a support system other than the same bunch of colleagues that you meet almost every day. There are times when I am reminded by my non-teaching friends about life's purpose and vision. These are the words or shall I say, brutal-honest slaps that I need to realign my thoughts. Just in case if you are wondering, I have my group of super best friends, my awesome teacher friends from different schools, my church mates, my close ex-colleagues, and my current colleagues. Hey, wait a minute, what about your family members and maybe, your someone special? My stand here is that I keep my work stress or vents to a super duper minimum level with them because I don't want them to worry about me. :)

Go Outdoors

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I know, sometimes we get to leave work on time and it is highly advisable for us to leave work early even if it means that we still have work to do at home. A change in our working environment is mandatory to avoid teacher stress and burnout. I have had completed few tasks at my condo's swimming pool area surrounded by green trees, and the weather was not too sunny too. Then, I spent about 25 minutes for a quick swim before I head back to my room to take shower and then, continued on my work again. It truly made a difference for me to recharge. Even a quick 5 minutes walk in the outdoors will do, if and when the weather is perfect for it. In Thailand, the weather is so just crazy hot and dry. Definitely not the ideal weather to do outdoors.

Explore Anything Funny, Adorable, and Inspirational

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YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Steemit are the perfect places to explore anything funny, adorable, and inspirational. Just few clicks away. Don't forget to share it with others and have a good laugh together! Laughter triggers our happy natural hormones, endorphins which can decrease stress and promote better well-being. Intuitively, it is true what they say, laughter is the best medicine.

Quiet, Quality Time for Yourself

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How does my quiet time feel like, sound like and look like? It feels like a therapeutic, counselling session coupled with the freshness of eucalyptus or lavender essential oil from its diffuser. It sounds like soft music or faith-filled music playing in the atmosphere, or just me talking to myself, or words of prayers. It looks like a moment of stillness, positivity and self-reflection. Times like these make up a perfect invitation for mind or written journaling. AND, it is okay to weep. A resolute quiet time like this is much more powerful than taking a mental health day.

Teachers, our profession may be stressful but it is never dull. We do not have the answers to everything and at times, things just do not turn out the way that we ought it to be. However, as we weather the storm, as we take delight in the rain and sunshine, we need to remember that we are the commanders for the epic voyages of young minds and hearts. With a focused, inspired mindset, we can definitely overcome our teacher stress and burnout whilst empowering our students to do and be their best. Hugs!

Thank you for reading my post today! Hope you enjoyed it :)

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