This is So Stressful!
It’s all the rage right now. Ways to manage your stress. Yet, if you are like most-you have enough to worry about getting through your day unscathed, let alone finding the time to manage your stress.
Except, what if you don’t?
Working in childcare provides you with an important responsibility. If we keep running on empty, are we really offering the children all of the experience we dreamed of to our fullest potential if we don’t pause and take inventory of our own social emotional well-being? What are we offering the children, their parents/caregivers, and the community if we don’t take care of ourself first?
YIKES!
Well, since I put it that way…
There are three important steps to managing your stress and I am just going to dig right in!
Identify- everyone sees, feels, and processes stress differently and your stress is unique to YOU! So, how can you identify yours? A simple check-in with a typical day can truly work magic. Think of the preparation that goes into your day, the steps you take and the way you feel will help you identify what your stressors are. Now, don’t be confused by what the societal norms tell you that should stress you out because the reality is-it is so different for everyone. Think of an example of an actor and the fear of public speaking. We wouldn’t have actors or politicians or trainers if everyone was terrified of public speaking. (see where I am going here?) Your unique stressors only belong to you.
Adapt Potential Stressors- now that you have identified what your stressors are, now we make adaptations. For example, a stressor of mine is waking to a sink full of dishes. I could care less if dishes are scattered about all day but when I wake up in the morning and see dishes in the sink I am suddenly overwhelmed and that feeling stays with me all day long. Every thought then becomes a pile on top of my dishes and away I get washed right down the sink with stress! My adaptation plan to minimize that stress is simple, right? Whoever is assigned to dishes that day must check the sink before going off to bed! Sounds easy and simple so why wouldn’t I have done this already? Have you heard of the negative thinking loop? I have the negative thought of dishes in the sink in the morning and travel throughout my day thinking negative thoughts and stay stuck in this loop unable to see the simple solution because I am habitually thinking negatively. It doesn’t happen every day. It isn’t something that can be 100% guaranteed to stop happening. Eventually someone is going to forget to do their dishes and I will get stuck again in my loop. However, the act of planning an adaptive solution to my stressor is actually magic. Yep! Magic! By identifying my stressor negative loop I have created a fork in my thinking process, a way out. By understanding that I can in fact create an adaptive solution to break that negative loop, I erase it’s impact of stress, which in turn breaks that loop. So again, the act of processing an adaptation effectively breaks a stressful cycle.
Resilience Building Coping Mechanisms- again just as you and only YOU could identify what is causing your stressor, only you can figure ways to reset your internal systems. We already know there are so many useful ways that can help us cope with our stress; meditation, journaling, exercise, mindfulness, etc. Where do you even start? The best way to think about this is thinking specifically about your classroom of students. You know that you can’t teach them all the same way to do something. Some children might need 1:1 time with you, being hands on, and some might need pictures, etc. You know some things work for some children and some things do not. This means, trying different things even if you aren’t interested might be the key you are looking for, but because you hadn’t tried it, you missed it. The reason we have to try is ‘resilience.’ Without building our resilience to stressors we tend to go into stressful situations fumbling around not knowing what to do with certain tools and end up only making things worse. By building resilience through continued practice of coping mechanisms, we empower ourselves with knowledge and tools to gain control over stressful situations to effectively make them less stressful! We begin to rid ourselves of this toxic chronic stress! So try them out. Try them ALL! Meditate, journal, exercise, practice mindfulness! Increase your resilience to stress and gain the power of knowing you are doing everything in your power beyond the classroom semantics to give these children everything they deserve by helping yourself!
Thank you teachers, for doing all that you do! I see you, and hope for you that you can find your unique coping mechanisms that will build your resilience toolbox so you not only learn to manage your stressors, but are empowered to teach these social emotional skills to the children too!
If you need some ideas for coping mechanisms and ways to figure out how to fit anything else in your busy schedule, schedule a free session and we can individualize a plan just for you!
