Written by: Rukshana Ilahi, Mental Wellness Consultant for Kent ISD

I don’t know about you, but I feel like last year can be erased from the books. While it was significant in so many ways, it also felt like it never happened. Nonetheless, here we are starting another school year, hoping for better and less tumultuous times.  

Truth be told, I love the start of the school year. It’s the only profession that I know of where you can start fresh each year. You have the opportunity to begin new habits, reorganize yourself, and introduce new ideas into your classroom. With that in mind, I’d like to challenge you to think about your self-help habits. Do you check in with yourself regularly? Do you recognize when you need to do something to center yourself? Is self-help incorporated into your daily routine? 

What is self-help?

Often, we think of self-help as an occasional fun or relaxing activity that we do for ourselves like taking a bubble bath or watching our favorite show. Although that is part of self-help, we often forget that self-help includes the day-to-day things we do to make ourselves feel grounded, not just happy. Feeling grounded means keeping yourself in a mental space that allows you to be present and centered. 

Examples of self-help

Self-help can be small day-to-day activities such as meditating, eating well, or going for a walk outside. One form of self-help that I incorporate into my daily routine is reading a positive quote each morning. When I focus on thinking positively, my attitude changes and I am more able to handle the challenges that come my way. I also take note of the tension in my body. If I feel tense, I take a few deep breaths to intentionally relax my muscles. 

Creating self-help habits 

Recently a team of educators and professionals in our community collaborated to create a series of short videos to promote educator resilience and emotional wellness. The first video in this series Emotional Wellness: Self-Help for Educators provides self-help strategies for educators to support their own emotional wellness. Check out the video to start brainstorming self-help ideas!

Next steps

The work you do for yourself directly affects others, including your students. Not only is having a self-help routine a good model to others, it also helps you to be present and center in your classroom! My challenge to you is to identify and incorporate 1-2 self-help activities into your routine. Find an accountability partner to help you commit to them. If you feel overwhelmed, remember to start small, even 5 minutes of self-help a day makes a difference!

#MentalWellnessMatters #WeLeadLearning #KentISDpd