Teachers Get Overwhelmed

Teachers are amazing, they are filled with positive energy and have a passion for supporting their students to be the best they can be.  Teachers are often some of the most undervalued professionals yet have some of the biggest hearts. When anyone is passionate about what they are doing, their commitment levels grow and sometimes that can cause unnecessary self-induced pressure. When you love something, you want to do your best and with that comes a lot of responsibility. Teachers can get overwhelmed because they give so much to their jobs because their students’ futures are important to them.

Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This reminds us why teaching is so important. It is not easy to be a teacher, especially when you have so many students with different needs and personalities. A teacher must work overtime to create lesson plans, finish grading and handle after-school activities, all for students to feel comfortable and thrive in their environment. However, having so much responsibility can easily lead to TEACHERS GETTING OVERWHELMED.

Today, we at idareu2bee.com applaud teachers for giving each student in their classroom a unique experience to help them overcome their challenges and thrive in their individual talents and skills.  If you ask a teacher why they wanted to become a teacher, most will say because a teacher inspired them. When they were a student, there was that special teacher that believed in them and pushed them past their self-doubt.  An amazing teacher is one who can let go of that overwhelm and let love in. All the tips and tools in the world could never remove the pressure and stress on teachers but using healthy coping methods will improve mental health. To keep being committed to giving kids all the support, teachers need to train their brains so they can live their best life.

Everyone can get overwhelmed, and today’s focus is on our great Teachers. We encourage you to LET GO OF OVERWHELM and LET LOVE IN!

Let us first begin with a brief understanding of what being overwhelmed is and how it can impact you:

Being overwhelmed comes from the stress or anxiety of continuously thinking about all the things that are happening or will happen.

Feeling overwhelmed makes it more difficult for you:

• To get work done, which in turn makes you even more overwhelmed.
• It can feel like a never-ending cycle made to suppress you and shut you down.
• Being overwhelmed can fill your mind with negative thoughts of defeat or self-talk such as saying things like “I cannot do this” or “this is too much for me to handle.”

So, let’s begin the process of shifting how you think when it comes to things you stress about. It is not an instant remedy, but with enough practice, you can begin to break stressful habits.

Tips to break the habit of feeling overwhelmed:

1. ACKNOWLEDGE IT – The first thing you need to do is pay attention to this feeling and acknowledge what it is. Being overwhelmed is a feeling based on your thoughts. The constant thoughts that you have running in your mind that you have so many things to do. So, the first step is realizing this feeling and having a clear understanding that this is happening to you and not getting more stressed and anxious about it.
2. CLEAR YOUR HEAD – Remove everything from your head and wipe the slate clean and get ready to start over as this constant thinking of everything you need to do is not helping at all. A simple way of clearing your head is writing everything down so that it’s not stuck in your head.
3. PRIORITIZE – Differentiate between the things that are important and the things that are not. Make a list according to the priority that needs to be given to each task.
4. FOCUS ON ONE THING – Once you have that list made, just dive right into it and focus on one thing at a time and you will see that you are getting all the things done.
5. Be kind to yourself. Remember that feeling overwhelmed is OK, especially in your line of work. Also remember, that feeling overwhelmed doesn’t have to last forever. Be kind to yourself, give yourself some grace. If you need to ask for help or take an extra-long walk, you can. Your mental health should be a top priority.  Even though it may seem like you don’t have time for self-care, schedule time in your calendar to do something for yourself whether it’s going for a massage, watching your favourite show or movie, or doing some exercise-and don’t step over it.  Taking that time in your busy schedule will release stress and re-energize you, which will allow you to accomplish more in less time.
6. CELEBRATE – Remember that you are doing a good job and make sure that you celebrate all your victories, even if they are as small as getting the most basic job done. Most of the time we get overwhelmed because we think we are not doing a good job, so do not think like that at all!

As you practice letting GO of being OVERWHELMED it is important to remind yourself how amazing you are. Without you teaching kids, those kids would not be able to GROW into amazing adults.  We know that you must LET A TREMENDOUS amount of LOVE OUT so that you can keep doing what you love.

Whether you are a teacher that teaches in a classroom for children and teenagers; or a homeschool mom who teaches your kids by day, and parent or guardian by night; or a teacher who teaches adults how to advance their personal and professional skills; YOU ARE a testimony that your courage, love and passion to teach is the push we all need to lead us to our goals and dreams.  On behalf of our family at IDareU2Bee.com, we thank you for who you are!

Visit us again soon for more FREE tips, tools, and resources to transform your teaching experience and build kind classrooms and develop our kids to be kind.