The Teacher’s Lifestyle

You can find your moment every day, something you look forward to, a ritual that becomes a lifestyle that keeps you feeling and looking; healthier, happy, refreshed and at ease. 

How many times have you looked forward to the holidays? How many times have your holidays seemed so short, making you begin to look forward to another one? The teacher-life is one crazy one, and many teachers live a monotonous life, full of work and less fun.

I have walked into school many times in the morning looking all neat and nice but by the time it’s school over, many things would have fallen out of place. We work with children on and on and it seems like there’s no breathing space, no time to do any thing for yourself. You get exhausted, feel worn out and look forward to the public holiday, the short breaks and the ultimate long one. It is not news that teachers come refreshed and full of smiles, very patient and hardly irritable after every holiday. Just give them two weeks and the holiday behaviour is gone; hair out of place, heavily pressed for the toilet, cold lunch, cold tea, more likely to be irritable, head buried in work all day, generally worn out.

You may say to yourself ‘I work round the clock, taking five minutes for a self-moment would not work!’ Think about it this way, giving up 5 minutes may be the ‘secret charger’ you need to go through the day as a happier and more fulfilled individual.

Every teacher deserves that sane moment right there in school every day and there will always be time for what you consider important to you. All you need to do is plan your day and make up your mind to establish five minutes a day doing something for yourself, something that calms you, satisfies you and refuels you.  Before we go deep into that, consider owning five minutes from one of the underlisted, depending on what works best for you on a daily basis.

1.  Just before the students arrive. This one is for the early birds, if you do not usually get to work on time, it’s not for you. I love this moment a lot because it gives me some sort of peace knowing I can have some peace and quiet in my work space, even if it is for fifteen minutes.

2.  On the way to assembly. Not all teachers are saddled with the task of taking children to assembly. It appears so simple but that is a ‘you-time’ for a teacher who may have so many subjects back-to-back. How you utilize that you-time can affect your day positively.

3.  When you are not teaching. Do not rush to mark that pile of books just after one long class, five minutes for yourself would not hurt.

4.  Your students are having an outdoor/out-of-class lesson with another teacher. Use this time wisely otherwise you would realise you did not do anything of value to yourself and even on-the-job at the end of that supposed free time.

5.  The official break-time. When you are not on duty, make good use of your break by taking a break. If the pupils need a break, you need it too.

6.  Between lessons. You can create a ‘you-time’ between lessons if possible. When we begin to look at ‘you-time’ ideas, you will see what fits in here. Trust me, some teachers get so tensed up during lessons and would need to consciously get very short breaks during their lessons.

7.  On your way to your out-of-class duty post. Don’t be the one who is always caught running to the duty post, make the process count a bit more for yourself, just be intentional.

8.  After school. Many teachers may find this easier to achieve, but it is better to strive for a personal time during the work hours, you need it to ease up your day.

Over the next few weeks I will be showing you several ways you can take a moment for yourself daily and be a happier teacher.

Kindly drop a comment if this post was useful.