For teachers, it becomes normal to be stressed, hahaha!
Burnout is inevitable, according to Psychology Today–it is part of the package. I guess it is a fact we cannot escape. It is a reality we cannot deny. It is innate in this profession. However, even if stress may be part of our job, we can still do something about how to deal with it.
Build Healthy Relationships with Workmates
Burnout can be alleviated once you have built a good colleague relationship. For an introvert like me, I struggled so much doing this. Fortunately, I am blessed with very understanding workmates. They understood that I hate loud people. They are still loud, but they gave me reasons to join their loudness HAHAHA, and we are savoring all the time given to us to be LOUD because most of our hours are spent in classes or in front of computers doing our jobs. We could hardly talk with each other whenever we had tasks in line.
After working with various people in different companies, I also realized that your work environment matters.
It matters a lot.
This does not mean always that you should resign from a toxic working environment; in some cases, you’re the one who should be adjusting, and detoxifying your workplace can be the purpose why you got there. Well, it is case to cases basis.
Story time…
I remember my previous job when I had this officemate who ruins always my day. Even when I am not seated in my post, she already shouts at me, asking what I have done that caused some errors in our tasks. It was horrifying. One morning, I started my job crafting my resignation letter and texted my Papa about my burden. He said I should give the situation time to settle and not decide because I was hurt and angry. I reflected on that. I tried reaching out to that person. I listened to her advice and tips on how to get things done for our team and not to get errors. I tried listening to her and tried so hard to build a healthy relationship.
I resigned from that job, with that person being one of my closest friends. Indeed, we cannot always get what we WANT, but there are opportunities where our efforts are demanded to truly get what we NEED.
Always find time to RELAX
This is very essential for all workers, not just teachers. We should find time to do what we want. Whenever I accomplish a task, I sometimes reward myself with ‘Youtubing’ or ‘Instagramming.’ Sometimes, I treat myself to a good MEAL. Or sometimes, I stand up and then walk somewhere to unwind. This works in dealing with burnout.
We have this MENTAL HEALTH BREAK in our school every 3-5 PM on Wednesdays. However, because of the loaded tasks, we could hardly avail of this, but whenever we could, we usually went out and played outdoor games. It may sound childish, but we truly needed a break.
Do Your Tasks
It is essential to be reminded that NOT DOING our TASKS is one of the significant contributors to BURNOUT. We sometimes think we are too loaded when those loads do not reach that volume if we worked on those tasks the moment they were handed to us.
In my practice, I always have my TO-DO List, which scares me a lot when this list becomes longer daily. I cannot recall a day when I crushed all these items on the list, but I ensure I have accomplished some of them.
Love What You Do
Cliche as it seems, the fact remains that once you do what you hate, it becomes a source of stress leading to burnout, but when you do what you LOVE, it wouldn’t feel like a job. Teaching is a package of sacrifices. It is on its label, but if we are passionate about what we do as TEACHERS, every success and progress we see in our students are priceless rewards we can savor for a lifetime.
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