As I write this, my winter break is coming to an end. It’s normal to have some dread or anxiety about going back to school and getting back into the school routine, but I’ve found a few tips that help me ease those feelings. Try these tips and see how they work for you.

1 – I set aside an hour (or two) to actually think about school. Here’s what I do.

~Clean out my email inbox (whether or not you respond to emails is up to you – some people like to go ahead and get it over with and others prefer to wait until they are physically back in the building).

~Review my plans for the first day back at school. I make sure I am mentally prepared for each subject, I review my lesson plan notes or slides, making any additions or deletions necessary.

~I plan to read aloud some fun picture books to help us all ease back into the routine.

~I make notes of when to review routines and procedures (as they always have to reviewed after any break). Here is a post about resetting classroom expectations.

~I think about community-building activities and morning circle topics we can use to help us all reconnect and catch up with each other in fun ways. I have lots of community-building posts on this blog (usually listed as back-to-school activities), but here is one about resetting your classroom environment.

~I think about reviewing goal-setting with students. This is a good time to think about the second half of the year. You can use a structured activity for this, or you can just have kids write about simple questions like these:

*what is going well for you so far this year?
*what would you like to do better?
*what can you do to help yourself?
*what can your teachers do to help you?

~I do NOT plan for any big, sweeping changes that require a lot of my mental energy for the first days back at school. Even if we are starting a new unit in some area, I still keep it as simple as possible. I’m not the only one adjusting back to earlier bedtimes, earlier wake-up times and getting back into a routine!

~I recognize that some students’ winter breaks may not have been as restful and joyful as others. This is a good time to use a tool like dialogue journals to allow students to write to you privately or to request time to talk with you privately. (By the way – if you haven’t started dialogue journals, no need to rush out and buy journals. Just use regular paper and then decide if you want to implement an actual journal later.)

Now put that school stuff away! Time to plan for your personal time.

2 – Plan some meals that you and your family love (or take-out that you all enjoy) for your first week back at school.

3 – Plan something delicious to take for lunch for your first day back.

4 – Plan what you’ll wear on the first day.

5 – Tell yourself that you will leave school as early as possible. You might change your mind once you get there, but this will help to give you something to look forward to.

6 – Plan something fun or relaxing to do when you first get home (play with your kids, walk your dog, take a bath, whatever).

7 – Write down three things you are looking forward to about being back at school (you can always list more, but starting with three is an easy goal). Are you looking forward to seeing particular students? Co-workers? Getting back into a routine? Starting a new unit that you enjoy?

Nothing will ever ease all the anxiety about returning to work, especially in a year where we are still battling a pandemic and all of the associated stress with that. But planning for your own enjoyment and relaxation while also finding things to look forward to can help a lot. Let me know if any of these tips work for you!

Winter break offers a well-deserved time to enjoy the holidays, relax, and spend time with people you love. Unless it really makes you happy, try to take a break from all school-related activities and recharge.

Teaching during a pandemic makes our job even more difficult than it already is, and no one is offering us more paid time off.

Now, more than ever, it’s important for you to rest and recharge with the activities that make YOU feel good.

With that in mind, here’s a random list of 22 tips for winter break:

1 – unplug from devices for at least part of the day.

2 – remove school email from your phone. (It’s a good idea to do this every weekend, by the way.)

3 – try a new workout routine that you’ve been wanting to try, or just take a long walk. Do this by yourself or with someone else – whatever makes you happiest. If you’re looking for new workouts to try, Beachbody on Demand is a great place to start.

4 – start or write in a pretty journal.

5 – reconnect with a friend that you haven’t seen or talked to in a while.

6 – get outside as much as possible.

7 – download some new podcasts that entertain or inspire you.

8 – enjoy some homemade hot cocoa or some other warm drink.

9 – bake some cookies. Save some for yourself and give some away (or not – you do you). Here’s my current favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!

10 – clean or organize an area that you would like to use in a different way in the new year (a drawer, a closet, maybe an entire room!). Shop for any storage or organization tools you might need.

11 – start a gratitude journal.

12 – organize the photos on your phone or computer. This photo printer is on my Amazon wish list because sometimes I just like having pictures posted where I can see them frequently without searching for them on my phone. I also love adding pictures to my gratitude journal.

13 – write letters or thank you notes to people in your life who have been supportive of you.

14 – light a candle (or a fire) and just gaze at the flame. This candle has always been one of my favorites, but these candles with essential oils are nice too.

15 – try some new recipes! I love finding new recipes online, but sometimes I just want a cookbook to browse. My new favorites are Half Baked Harvest Super Simple and The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Super Easy. (Easy and simple are clearly important to me.)

16 – begin making a summer 2022 list of things you would like to do over your summer break. This fun journal gives you some good ideas!

17 – make a list of all your “wins” in 2021. What are the things you did well or that you accomplished this past year? They don’t have to be super huge wins – just wins that matter to you. It’s fun to go back through your journal or planner or calendar from the past year to help remind you of some of your wins.

18 – go on a “field trip” to someplace in your town or nearby that you have always wanted to visit. It could be a museum, a historic site, a bakery, a store, whatever!

19 – make a list of books you want to read, places you want to go, other fun things you want to do in 2022. (And no, I didn’t intend to make that rhyme!)

20 – get your hair done, get a manicure, pedicure, massage – any kind of spa-ish self-care treatment you might not usually have time to do.

21 – watch the last sunset of 2021 and the first sunrise of 2022

22 – set up your personal planner for 2022.

If you’re seeing this post AFTER winter break – never fear! All of these ideas are good for implementing into your life at any time of year. Take care of yourself and enjoy your break!

I don’t have to tell you that this is a busy time of year. If your “to-do” list is anything like mine, it feels like more stuff gets added to it every day and not enough tasks are checked off.

Any time I am overwhelmed (not just during the holiday season), I try to remind myself to focus on what I AM accomplishing and what IS going well. One way I do that is by making brain dump lists.

Here are some examples of how to do that at any time of the year.

Make a list of:

*all the good moments that happened in your classroom in the course of a day

*all the good qualities about a difficult student (or colleague)

*growth you are seeing in your students in any areas

*all the good moments that happened in your personal life in the course of a day

*all of the things you DID get done today

*every positive interaction you had with anyone else during the day

*every single good thing from the day, starting from when you got up in the morning.

You don’t have to list every single thing. This isn’t an assignment. This is just a way to get you to notice that, no matter how bad the day might have seemed, there are plenty of good things that happen in the course of any given day.

Other ways to put positivity in your life on a regular basis:

*keep a daily gratitude list. Try to write down five things for which you are grateful every morning and every evening. These don’t have to be big things (like your spouse/partner or kids). They can be small things, like your cup of coffee.

*leave positive comments on other people’s profiles on social media

*write a quick thank you note, email or text to someone

*add a post-it note to your planner (personal planner, teacher planner, or both) – jot down one or two positive things that happened in the course of the day (you can always add more, but start with just one or two so you don’t feel like this is one more thing to do)

*and finally – write a thank-you note or email to yourself. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but try it anyway. Just start writing. What have you accomplished? What have you learned? What are you doing better now? Don’t overthink it -just write. Email it to yourself (maybe schedule it to send a week from now?) or put the thank-you note in your planner to read at a later date.

Please note – this is not to deny that there are hard things in our lives. Right now I am dealing with putting my mom into an assisted living facility. All I’m saying is that there are always blessings in our lives if we look for them. Hard things are hard. But looking for the good can make the hard things a little easier to bear.

If you are a person of faith, the words of Paul in Philippians 4:8 are worth memorizing:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy – dwell on these things.”

As I write this, it’s the holiday season and I have way too much to do. But I have learned a few tricks from friends through the years that really help me to stay productive and healthy, even when my schedule is full.

Here are ten tips that work for me.

1 – follow my morning routine. Morning routines can be whatever you want them to be, but creating one and following it most of the time is helpful for setting up your day. If you want some ideas for setting up your perfect morning routine, read my post HERE.

2 – my best mornings actually start with a great evening routine and getting to bed on time. Here’s how to set up your perfect evening routine.

3 – get seven hours of sleep a night. I really prefer eight hours, but seven hours will do when I’m busy. I just have to commit to going to bed on time to ensure I get those seven hours.

4 – work out in some form five or six days a week. This doesn’t have to be boot camp. Just moving your body in some way that you enjoy will make a huge difference in your energy level and in the way you feel. I tend to work out in the morning because that works for me. Find a time during the day that works for you and get started.

5 – find the right food plan and follow it. I do intermittent fasting and tend to eat one big meal and a snack every day. That works for me. Find what works for you. (If you want to know more about intermittent fasting, two of my favorite books are Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens and Waist Away: The Chantel Ray Way by Chantel Ray.

6 – brain dump all the things that you need to do. I keep a gigantic list going but I also organize and prioritize that list. (I’ll write another post to show more about how I do it. Stay tuned.) To get started, just write down everything that comes to mind that you need to do. You could try keeping lists on separate pages (home, work, holiday prep, family, etc.) OR you could put some code letters or words beside each task on your list.

The next thing you need to do is identify which items really must be done first. It’s easy to think that every single thing is important and that everything needs to get done right away but it doesn’t. Identify the most urgent tasks, get those done, then move on to the next tasks.

7 – for every “work” session (early morning, late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, evening), try to limit what must be done to three tasks (no more than five). Focus on doing those most important tasks first, then move on to other things on your list if you have time.

8 – take breaks. Get up and walk away from your desk. After you complete a task, do some small chore that makes you feel more organized or makes your space cleaner. Take a real lunch break. Walk outside and get some fresh air. Do some yoga stretches.

9 – take a little bit of time to read something that inspires you every day. It could be a Bible study or devotional or some kind of self-improvement book. Even just a few minutes helps give you some perspective and focus on what’s most important.

10 – ask for help! Seriously – who says you have to do it all? Delegate tasks, hire some help, let people know that you need some help! Do not feel guilty about that.

Self-care has become the big buzzword in education. Everyone knows it’s important, but self-care practices aren’t necessarily the first thing you think of when you’re stressed.

So let’s develop a plan that you can pull out when you need it.

Step 1 – Think about what self-care practices you are currently doing when you’re stressed. Are your practices positive or negative?

Here are examples of some practices that would be considered positive:
Meditation, listening to music, reading, going for a walk, getting outside in nature, listening to music, calling, or visiting with a friend.

And here are examples of some practices that would be considered negative:
Overeating, drinking too much wine, biting your fingernails, withdrawing from family and friends, yelling at your kids or husband/partner.

No judgment here. Just identify these for yourself. What do you currently do when you’re stressed and is that practice a positive or a negative?

Step 2 – think about different areas of self-care, what you are currently doing in those areas, and what practices you might want to try.

Here are examples of each area of self-care and some practices in each.

Physical – eating healthy food, going to bed on time, exercising.

Emotional – acknowledging all the good that you are doing already, expressing emotions in a healthy way, expressing gratitude.

Social – making time for friends/family, asking for support, having regular date nights.

Spiritual – meditation, reading inspirational literature, Bible reading, spending time in nature.

Professional – developing time management skills, pursuing or maintaining positive relationships with co-workers, developing appropriate work-life “balance” (knowing that balance shifts in different seasons).

Financial – working on paying off debt, following a reasonable budget, avoiding credit card debt.

Psychological – spending time by yourself, avoiding digital devices for a period of time, journaling, learning a new skill.

Which practices are you currently doing in each area? Which practices could you try to incorporate?

Step 3 – make an “emergency self-care plan.”

You’ve probably heard the diet advice about having something healthy available when you get hungry so that you won’t reach for junk when you’re starving.

Making an emergency self-care plan is the same idea. When you’re under stress, you may not choose the healthiest options.

Think about helpful activities you could choose in the following areas, as well as what you think you should probably avoid.

Relaxation – what helps you relax? What is a harmful activity you should avoid?

Thought patterns – what would be helpful affirmations to tell yourself? What harmful thoughts should you avoid?

Social support – who would be supportive people? Who should you avoid?

Mood – what kinds of things tend to put you in a good mood? What could put you in a bad mood?

Being prepared BEFORE you hit a roadblock will help you navigate the stress in a healthier way. Let me know how this works for you!