Social Self-Care for Teachers: Connection, Community, and Healthy Boundaries
Social self-care for teachers is paramount in fostering connection, community, and healthy boundaries, all of which are critical to preventing burnout in the demanding field of education. I emphasize that teaching, though inherently social, can often render educators feeling isolated; thus, nurturing meaningful relationships is essential. By intentionally seeking out individuals who uplift and support us, we fortify our resilience against the challenges we face. Laughter and shared joy serve as vital components of our social well-being, fostering camaraderie and alleviating stress. Furthermore, establishing clear boundaries is imperative to safeguard our energy and well-being, allowing us to thrive both personally and professionally in our teaching endeavors.
The exploration of social self-care for educators is of paramount importance, particularly in an era where the demands of teaching can lead to significant emotional and physical fatigue. This episode delves into the essence of cultivating meaningful relationships within the educational milieu, emphasizing the role of community as a robust buffer against burnout. Nicholas Kleve, affectionately known as Mr. Funky Teacher, articulates the necessity of fostering connections that invigorate and inspire, rather than deplete one’s energy. By sharing personal anecdotes and insights, he underscores the value of surrounding oneself with individuals who uplift and encourage, thereby creating a supportive network that is essential for sustaining one’s passion for teaching.
Furthermore, the discussion extends to the intricate balance of setting healthy boundaries. It is imperative for educators to discern between relationships that rejuvenate and those that drain. Mr. Funky Teacher advocates for prudently navigating social interactions, suggesting that teachers should invest time and energy into relationships that provide mutual support and understanding. The notion of laughter as a vital element of social well-being is also highlighted, with Mr. Funky Teacher recalling instances where humor has served to bridge gaps and foster camaraderie among colleagues and students alike. Ultimately, this episode offers a comprehensive framework for educators to not only endure the rigors of their profession but to thrive within it by prioritizing social self-care.
Takeaways:
- Social self-care for teachers emphasizes the importance of nurturing relationships that rejuvenate and support one's well-being.
- Establishing healthy boundaries is essential for teachers to protect their energy and maintain a balanced professional life.
- Laughter and shared joy serve as powerful tools for strengthening connections among educators and mitigating stress.
- Investing intentionally in supportive relationships can significantly reduce the risk of burnout in the teaching profession.
- Recognizing and limiting draining interactions is crucial for preserving one's mental and emotional health as an educator.
- Meaningful social connections provide teachers with the resilience necessary to navigate the challenges of their profession.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Be a Funky Teacher
Transcript
Yeah, he's Mr. Funky.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Mr. Funky Teacher inspires greatness, makes you feel good.
Speaker A:Like your favorite playlist.
Speaker A:Keeping that fresh and funky.
Speaker A:Yes, he does.
Speaker A:He got some funky cool ideas to share for all you teachers.
Speaker A:He can empower others, students and teachers.
Speaker A:It's all about hard work and creativity.
Speaker A:He brings out the kindness in everyone.
Speaker A:He's got the passion to teach.
Speaker A:You hear it when he speaks.
Speaker A:He knows how to build strong relationships.
Speaker A:If you're seeking the best bunkiest, he is it.
Speaker A:He will empower you to improve.
Speaker A:You'll be helping others and loving it too.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's Mr. Funky Teacher.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:This is Mr. Funky Teacher with Be a Funky Teacher dot com.
Speaker B:I'm coming to you with another Be a Funky Teacher podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome back, everyone.
Speaker B:Today's episode we are focused on social, self care for teachers, connection, community and healthy boundaries.
Speaker B:That's what we're going to be focusing on.
Speaker B:But before we get into it, I want to talk about three things I'm thankful for.
Speaker B:First thing that I'm thankful for is playful practical jokes.
Speaker B:I'm grateful for that, for laughter and for ways that playful practical jokes can bring joy into a day where humor can break the tension and helps build strong connections.
Speaker B:And students, it can help bring kind of playfulness with students, even with your own family, also even with colleagues.
Speaker B:And so I love playful practical jokes.
Speaker B:And even small little practical jokes, the silly moments can make a hard deal, hard day feel even lighter, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:So I, I like playful practical jokes.
Speaker B:Second thing I'm thankful for is early cold mornings.
Speaker B:I'm thankful for the nice, crisp early mornings that they wake you up and clear your head.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B:They can for me, y', all, they can bring a sense of freshness in a sense of they can help remind me that, hey, you know this, you're alive.
Speaker B:Be in the moment.
Speaker B:There's just something about.
Speaker B:Usually I like, love warm weather more, but there's something about a crisp, cold morning that I like.
Speaker B:Not freezing cold, where your nose, nose and ears almost fall off because you're so cold when you walk out of the house.
Speaker B:But I'm talking about like a cool, crisp morning.
Speaker B:And then the third thing I'm there for is calmness with confrontation and anger.
Speaker B:You know, we all have to deal with confrontation and that's part of being, being social, living social creatures, being alive.
Speaker B:And when we do have to face confrontation in our life, I'm grateful for finding calm when emotions can sometimes run high.
Speaker B:If you're confronted with an issue or someone in your, you just have to deal with confrontation in some way.
Speaker B:And just staying calm and not getting angry is certainly the way to go.
Speaker B:Being steady in those tough conversations help de, escalate tension.
Speaker B:This calmness can really give a person strength to respond clearly.
Speaker B:Also, instead of just reacting in anger because people start reacting in anger, you know, that's not going to get anybody anywhere.
Speaker B:Yeah, and we're, we're, we're humans, we're social creatures, so we, we sometimes have to deal with confrontations.
Speaker B:That's just part of being alive sometimes.
Speaker B:And how we respond to it does matter.
Speaker B:So I'm thankful that I, that's one thing that I'm pretty good at is staying calm.
Speaker B:If someone comes at me with anger, I'm, I'm thankful for that ability.
Speaker B:All right, three things I'm thankful for I just went through.
Speaker B:Now let's get into the meat and potatoes of this lesson, shall we?
Speaker B:Social, self care for teachers, connection, community, and healthy boundaries.
Speaker B:That's what we're focusing on in this episode.
Speaker B:Now the big thing is that I want to encourage you to lean into relationships that replenish you.
Speaker B:Teaching is a people centered profession, but not all relationships are equal, are they?
Speaker B:I want to encourage y' all to identify people who lift you up, who raise you up, friends in your life, colleagues, family, those individuals who lift you up, who cheer you on, who are supporters, encouragers, cheerleaders to you in your life, who lift you up.
Speaker B:I want you to invest in that, invest in those relationships and surround yourself with encouragers who, who pract you from burnout, who look out for you, who protect you from burnout.
Speaker B:I've had, over the years, you know, I've had the honor of meeting a lot of different stuff, staff and colleagues over the years.
Speaker B:And you know, the, the ones that, that I gravitate to are the ones who aren't going to sit and just talk smack.
Speaker B:I'll be honest, I'm not, I'm not really interested in that.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:One colleague that, that, that I think of, that I really valued her friendship is I taught right next to her for years and her name was Kathy.
Speaker B:She's retired now.
Speaker B:But honestly, I could go to her and I could, I could vent to her for maybe two minutes and she'd listen.
Speaker B:We kind of had an understanding.
Speaker B:I could, I could vent to her.
Speaker B:She, she would listen and she would say some words of encouragement that say, hey, you got this, hang in there, and would move on with our day.
Speaker B:You know, and I could do that.
Speaker B:I would do the same for her like if she needed a vet too.
Speaker B:But she, you know, she was, she was amazing and she's retired since and is in my former school.
Speaker B:I taught with her for, for many years in my former school district.
Speaker B:And I absolutely love, loved working with her as a colleague because she had that she would listen and then she would say something so supportive and so encouraging and just that that was powerful.
Speaker B:It wasn't.
Speaker B:I mean she'd give me those thumbs up, she'd give me those words of encouragement.
Speaker B:I so appreciated having her in my life and getting to work with her during the years that I got to work with her.
Speaker B:And she's, she's retired now doing her, her living her best life.
Speaker B:I still keep in contact with, with Kathy Satell, but what a, what a great human being that, that, that I got to work with for so many years.
Speaker B:And I think she, she's doing a lot of traveling with her husband now and grow enjoying her grandbabies.
Speaker B:But that's a relationship that, that I will treasure forever.
Speaker B:Just getting to, to, to lean into that relationship and there's other relationships that, that I value also that, that I'm absolutely grateful for that, that are.
Speaker B:Mentorship is really important to me.
Speaker B:So I have a list of individuals that, that I, I really lean into for, for mentorship that I can go to and that I can confide in that I can, I can talk to and they'll, they'll share it straight with me sometimes help reframe my thinking.
Speaker B:But man, those, those are great relationships that I'm so thankful for.
Speaker B:So I want to encourage you.
Speaker B:Do you have those friendships in your life?
Speaker B:Do you have those colleagues?
Speaker B:Do you have those, those family members that.
Speaker B:Do you have those mentors in your life that hey, they're there for you, you can go to them and they will help uplift what you're trying to do and kind of protect, not protect you per se, but they're not going to.
Speaker B:Once again, I guess it comes down to they lift you up.
Speaker B:That's what I'm ultimately saying.
Speaker B:They don't always tell you what you want to hear, but they lift you up and are encouragers and cheerleaders more importantly than anything else.
Speaker B:And I think about my mom is the one who really taught me about the importance of those types of relationships.
Speaker B:Individuals who treat you in that way and, but then you also have to be that for them also.
Speaker B:It can just be a one sided relationship in that respect.
Speaker B:And that's where Where I've said invest in those relationships.
Speaker B:And, and it's tough sometimes because we all have busy lives, right?
Speaker B:Like we, we have.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:This life feels like it goes a million miles an hour sometimes, and it's tough sometimes.
Speaker B:But yet we, we still.
Speaker B:I encourage us to invest in those relationships because they matter.
Speaker B:The next big idea that I want to talk about here is the power of laughter and shared joy.
Speaker B:Now laughter, y', all is.
Speaker B:Laughter is very important to me because it's, it's part of social self care.
Speaker B:I actually did.
Speaker B:I, I went.
Speaker B:Three years ago, I went through this laughter therapy thing where I learned how to, how, how to run like a laughter therapy club or like a laughter therapy group.
Speaker B:And that was, that was really neat.
Speaker B:I brought some laughter into my classroom and, and I just, I'm fascinated by laughter.
Speaker B:I'm, I'm laughing by the impact it has, the physiological impacts that it has in the body, the, the, the mental impacts, the social, you know, socially, how it, how it influences us.
Speaker B:But truly laughter is a social self care.
Speaker B:Playful moments can reduce stress and it can bond communities, whatever communities we're in.
Speaker B:And so I want to encourage you to build traditions where with staff jokes, heck, funny, appropriate T shirts, inside class humor, things like that, that, you know, things.
Speaker B:Now keep in mind that things that, that humor isn't always doesn't.
Speaker B:There's a lot of different forms of humor and it doesn't always equate to laughter, but it can.
Speaker B:But I encourage you to try to try to build laughter into your day with students with, with colleagues and adults with family.
Speaker B:Bring laughter in.
Speaker B:Yesterday we just, we had laughter breakout in my classroom because I was joking.
Speaker B:I had, I found these press on nails in my classroom on the floor.
Speaker B:And I think a student was throwing them on the floor and didn't throw them away.
Speaker B:And I could have gotten really upset that, hey, they're throwing garbage on the floor.
Speaker B:But instead of doing that, instead of kind of being, being upset about that or, or expressing frustration, I joked about him being Ligament Larry, my, my skeleton mascot that's in my classroom.
Speaker B:He's one of my mini mascots.
Speaker B:They joked about, hey, I know they're not Ligament Larry's press on nails.
Speaker B:I was joking with, with this group of girls who I think they, they belong to.
Speaker B:We, we had a.
Speaker B:And then they just, they just thought that was the funniest thing.
Speaker B:We laughed together for a moment and then, you know, and we moved on.
Speaker B:But that was a moment we shared with laughter just because I think they thought about Ligament Larry wearing these press on this plastic skeleton, wearing these press on nails and it just made us all laugh.
Speaker B:So yeah, it's a. I want to encourage you to bring in things like that, talk about playful jokes, share playful jokes.
Speaker B:They can really shift the energy of an entire classroom or staff room or even in your home life.
Speaker B:I want to encourage you to bring in the power of laughter and shared joy into the spaces that you are in.
Speaker B:Third thing, everyone, y', all that I want to talk about here is I want to talk about boundaries.
Speaker B:I want to talk about boundaries that protect your energy with social self care.
Speaker B:It's not about saying yes to everything, it's about wise limits, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:We gotta have some wise limits on, on what we do here.
Speaker B:Boundaries that protect your time and your energy from draining interactions, interactions that just don't serve you, that are draining, that just someone walks away from an interaction and you're just like deal, kind of like a fuddy dud.
Speaker B:Just, it just wipes you out.
Speaker B:How is that serving you?
Speaker B:So be careful about those and put boundaries up on those.
Speaker B:In terms of how much energy and time you invest in those types of dynamics.
Speaker B:I encourage you to set boundaries that protect your time and your energy from any sort of draining interaction.
Speaker B:Sometimes they can't be avoided, but we need to do as much as we can to try to avoid draining interactions with, or change the dynamic.
Speaker B:If like, if it's a student who's draining your energy, what can you do in order to change the dynamic to set that student up for success while also preserving your energy?
Speaker B:If it's a student who's constantly interrupting, is there a way to remove that student for a little bit to let that student know that hey, he or she can't be interrupting and that that's a part of like protecting everyone else in the classroom?
Speaker B:If you're not able to teach, if you're not able to get a word or two out and you're being constantly interrupted, you know, how's that serving you if you don't do anything about it?
Speaker B:And so I encourage you to lean into figuring out solutions for those, those types of problems.
Speaker B:Because if you don't do anything, you're just telling individuals, hey, it's okay to interrupt you or it's okay to drain your energy.
Speaker B:And then quite frankly, they may not even people, you know, they're, I've encountered some adults who don't even know their energy drainers.
Speaker B:They, they, they talk smack about people, they complain about people, they gossip about people and they don't even realize they're energy drainers, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:And, and they, they're.
Speaker B:That they're dangerous.
Speaker B:I think that.
Speaker B:Not like life or death dangerous, but they're dangerous to our.
Speaker B:They make us more likely to burn out because it's.
Speaker B:It drains our energy, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:And so I want to encourage you to have those boundaries around the people who will just drain your energy.
Speaker B:Now, there's sometimes that you're saying, well, how.
Speaker B:How might you begin to address this even more?
Speaker B:Well, you can sometimes politely decline spending time with people who are energy drainers for you or step away.
Speaker B:There's negativity going on that there's a group of teachers that are really talking negative about students or, or gossiping about students or gossiping about other adults.
Speaker B:You know, I don't sit there and just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk smack about people.
Speaker B:I'd be very careful about that and, and kind of pulling away from some of that, because I don't know about y', all, but when you, when you've sat around and you talked a bunch of smack about people, and if you have to talk about some concerns, I, I get that.
Speaker B:But if you're just talking smack and you're badmouthing people, it doesn't make me feel very good to do that about people.
Speaker B:And so I encourage you to be really careful in that space, stepping away from that toxic negativity.
Speaker B:Protect your family time, too, because, boy, teaching, teaching, teaching is a space that will.
Speaker B:It'll just take, take and take from you.
Speaker B:If you let is a space, it'll just keep taking from you.
Speaker B:And that.
Speaker B:It's just the kind of, the nature of the profession where it does consume a lot.
Speaker B:And if you let it just.
Speaker B:If you don't set up boundaries, especially between your family life and your teaching life, it'll just keep taking and it'll leave you burnout, drained and not wanting to come into the classroom.
Speaker B:That's why we've got to set up boundaries, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:So I want to encourage you to set those boundaries up also.
Speaker B:Boundaries, other boundaries that protect your energy.
Speaker B:Stay calm and when facing challenges in education, stay calm when dealing with.
Speaker B:If you're having a tough interaction with a colleague or a parent or a student.
Speaker B:I, I cannot stress enough how it's so important for us to stay calm and focused when we deal with that interaction here.
Speaker B:We get all riled up and we get all bent out of shape or worked up when dealing with.
Speaker B:With challenging situations.
Speaker B:It is not good for us, it's not good for the people we work with.
Speaker B:But I get it.
Speaker B:It's sometimes tough.
Speaker B:I've been worked up before, dealing with some challenges with dealing with others.
Speaker B:It can really get you worked up sometimes.
Speaker B:But just I want to encourage you to be kind of careful about that because it just is so damaging to your social health and social self care.
Speaker B:Well, as we kind of wrap up here, some takeaways here and reflections here.
Speaker B:Social self care is about being intentional, choosing people and choosing settings that fill you up, not drain you.
Speaker B:You see, strong relationships and healthy boundaries give you staying power and teaching.
Speaker B:Because if you get burned out, if you don't want to come in, if you don't want to be around students or staff, then everybody loses in that respect because we need great teachers in the classroom and in the education space.
Speaker B:We need you to be there for your families, too, and to have those healthy boundaries in place so you have the staying power and teaching.
Speaker B:So you're not one of the statistics that where you're just walking away from the profession.
Speaker B:Not that there's any shame if someone has to walk away for their own mental health.
Speaker B:I get it.
Speaker B:But I try to.
Speaker B:When I work with college students, when I try to work with other colleagues, I want people to stay, stay in, in this for students and for.
Speaker B:It's a great profession.
Speaker B:It is a great profession.
Speaker B:It is an opportunity to truly provide impact.
Speaker B:But boy, it'll, it'll.
Speaker B:It can drain you, though.
Speaker B:Let's just be real.
Speaker B:And then the final takeaway is that laughter, connection and limits all combine to keep your social world a source of strength.
Speaker B:And that's what we want it to be, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:We truly do.
Speaker B:So if you found value in this episode, jump on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this podcast.
Speaker B:Give me a review.
Speaker B:Hit me up with five stars if you found this episode valuable.
Speaker B:And I want to wrap things up by reminding you, I want you to remember to inspire greatness in young people.
Speaker B:And don't forget to be a funky teacher.
Speaker B:Bye now.
Speaker A:He's Mr. Funky Teacher yeah he's Mr. Funky Teacher yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Sam.
