Let’s face it, we are in the best of times (vs. the worst of times). Summer vacation! If you’re like me you’ve been going non-stop all school year. Between starting a new job with a new age group of students, rebuilding a program, making materials, slogging through grad school and being a mom, this year was exhausting. It was so easy to feel that I wasn’t giving 100% to each thing I was doing because I wasn’t. Between keeping up with classes and working all day someone was constantly losing out. Either my family was losing my attention, my students, or my colleagues. I was always feeling like I was letting someone down. But what I didn’t stop to think about was that I was letting myself down as well. I took virtually no time for self-care this year. I saw it as taking up valuable time that I could be using to plan lessons, complete homework assignments and projects, and spend with my family.
Boy, was I burned out.
What I didn’t realize was that self-care is so important to keep us afloat. I felt bad asking my husband for MORE time on top of what he was already doing to give me time to get my school work done. But not all self-care has to take up lots of time. And honestly, looking back at it, an hour in a pedicure chair would have been well worth it to let me detach, relax, and refresh for the next days or weeks ahead.
So here are some suggestions for ways that you can take care of yourself from little effort to more effort. If you’re like me, use the summer to relax and refresh. And maybe when we are deep in the thick of the school year we can remember a few of these tricks.
Minimal effort 
- Drink tea
- Eat chocolate
- Do a few yoga poses
- Hydrate
- Look out the window and breathe
- Take a quick walk for some fresh air
- Step away from your desk for lunch – leave the classroom entirely if possible!
- Watch a mindless TV show
- Take a hot bath
- Read
- Listen to music
- Meditate
- Eat well
- Use essential oils
- Get good sleep – go to bed 10-15 minutes earlier than you usually do
Medium effort
- Bake cookies
- Knit or crochet
- Make positive phone calls to parents
- Volunteer
- Write down 3 things each day you are grateful for or one positive thing that happened that day
- Go for a run
- Dance
- Exercise
- Get a manicure or pedicure
- Have dinner with friends
- Go to happy hour with coworkers
- Have a date night
- Get a massage
- Go shopping
- Cook
- Spend time with animals
- Clean or organize something
Maximum effort
- Take a weekend trip
- Visit a spa
In case you are looking for even more ways to take care of yourself, this article has a lot more ways!
Take care of yourselves,
