What if we are better together than we are apart?

Where will you be in the next 30 days?

In 30 days you may still be stuck at home, and the school year will be almost over, but what if you were feeling better than before? 

What if it just took a few minutes of practicing a little mindful self-care?

Self-care is a dirty word in some circles.  Often people take it to mean an indulgence or something that is met through buying a good or service.  According to Angela Watson of the Truth for Teachers podcast, “Self-care is NOT a replacement for disrupting structures and oppressive institutions; it is a support mechanism and coping strategy that enables us to do that work.”

For more about this idea of teacher self-care being a radical act that allows us to do this incredibly noble, yet hard work, check out this post.

In the spirit of this new conception of self-care that I want to perpetuate now and forever, Teaching Well has created the Teaching Well Together N.O.W. initiative.  N.O.W. stands for “Not Only on Weekends.”  Meaning self-care is not only for weekends! 

Check out this post for some specifics on the Teaching Well Together N.O.W. initiative.

And as if it wasn’t difficult enough for teachers to prioritize themselves, now we have this excruciatingly difficult balancing act due to the Covid-19 Crisis where we are working and living at home, balancing everyone’s needs against our own and generally this would be a difficult task under the most ideal circumstances! 

Some people have told me that they thought this would be an easier time to practice self-care and create a lasting routine simply because we are working from home, but let me ask you this…how uncomfortable do you feel those first couple days (or weeks) of summer vacation?

You know when you have lots to do, but no real set time frame.  When you have difficulty with getting into a “new normal”?

Did these last few weeks feel a little like that but magnified?  If it did, you are absolutely not alone.  This is incredibly difficult work and we should all be applauding ourselves for just working through another day.

Surviving is great, but if you’re wanting to move in the direction of finding some real ways to prioritize yourself, put the oxygen mask on you so that you can be resilient in your home as both a family member and a teacher, then I hope you will check out the following complimentary initiatives… 

• Weekly Guided Mindfulness Practices….I know, I know…if you’re thinking, I can’t take another Zoom meeting, then this may still be for you. It is a Zoom meeting, but I will encourage you to just listen and have a reason to escape to your room for 30 minutes each week. We will share in a guided mindfulness practice (a perfect self-care solution for these unsettling times) and those who want to connect at the end of the practice can do so.  The rest of you can sign off at that point. I will also send ALL registrants an audio of the guided mindfulness practice so that you can listen when you can.  You need to register in order to get that.

>>Register for the Teacher Guided Mindfulness Practices<<<==== (opens in a new tab)">===>>>Register for the Teacher Guided Mindfulness Practices<<<====

teachingwell.life/mayzoom

• May Teaching Well Together N.O.W. Calendar….this weekly themed calendar can be printed and worked through each day for the month of May.  There are guiding themes, daily questions, and weekly reflections that are simple and straightforward.  Pair this with the weekly guided mindfulness practices and you will be good to go!

====>>>Get your May Teaching Well Together Calendar<<<====

I look forward to coming together (live, recorded, read).  Choose what works for you and go for it.  Join us one week and skip the next.  Turn off your camera and dive in or hold yourself accountable to each of the daily challenges.  

The next 30 days are going to pass with us more than likely at home (in most cases).  Wouldn’t it be better to spend the next four weeks building your own resilience reserves so that when we go back to our classrooms we are even better than before? 

We can do that.

We can do that together.

We can do that together and be better than we are apart.