Work Life Balance and Getting the Most Out of Spring Break
Today, we're gonna be talking about work life balance and how that is a myth. And this is actually a podcast I did. It was episode number 3 of the teacher burnout podcast, and I'm republishing it today because I think this is perfect timing with spring break coming up. In this podcast episode, I am talking about how to make the most of your breaks. Because in teaching, especially in all careers, I believe, but in teaching, especially having a work life balance is really hard because we know as educators there are certain seasons of the year that are really busy.
Barb:And I think that that's okay as long as we have a give and take with what that looks like with a work life balance. And not a 50 50 work life balance, but a work life balance where there are some seasons that are going to be busier than others, and then other seasons where we completely disconnect. What I mean by that is we know at the beginning of the school year, it's really busy. We have open houses, and then even in November in my district, there's conferences. Just that time of year seems to be really busy.
Barb:It's stressful as you're trying to get the school year up and running. You might be working a little bit more than normal. But when you do that, that's why it's important that you make sure you have those other times of year where you take a shift and really take a break. And spring break is one of those times. I know by the time we get into March, the buildings get crazy.
Barb:Everybody is tired, and they're ready for break. We have had so many sicknesses this year. Lots of teachers and students out sick, and so that's been a struggle, and everybody just gets ready for break. By the time we get to spring break, it's really important that you take the time for yourself and you disconnect. And so in here I talk about disconnecting from parents, disconnecting from your email, and really giving yourself that time to restore yourself and reconnect with your own hobbies and things that you like to do.
Barb:I know for a lot of people, spring break is a time where you travel and maybe go on a vacation, and so sometimes it's easier to do that when you go on a vacation. But for me, I typically don't travel and go on a vacation during spring break, but I like that time to disconnect and just be at home because we know that we need that time as educators. We need to really give ourselves some downtime so that we come back to school refreshed. Because when we come back to school, then we have another period of time that we have to get through with standardized testing if you're in a testing grade and other stressful things that happen, and then it's going to be the end of school year. So spring break is in that perfect timing where you really get the time to decompress and take time for yourself.
Barb:So when you have that time, you need to plan it. I'm a huge advocate for planning your breaks. I know that sounds crazy because we want time to disconnect and just downtime to be lazy, but I always talk about the importance of planning out your breaks so that you make the most of them. For me, I like to plan out the projects I wanna get done, whether that's spring cleaning or maybe it's even fun things that I wanna do with my kids. If I don't plan it, it doesn't happen.
Barb:Making sure that you know what you want that downtime to look like and really plan that break. So I think this is a good episode to just refresh yourself of what that work life balance is and how it it can be a myth and how you make it work for yourself as an educator. I hope that you get some good tips from it. I hope that it helps you really go into spring break relaxing and not thinking about teaching so that you just have time to connect with family and friends. Enjoy the episode.
Barb:Welcome to the teacher burnout podcast, where we explore the challenges of burnout for teachers and share practical strategies to support teacher well-being. I'm your host, Barb Flowers. If you're a teacher looking for ways to prevent burnout or an educational leader searching for strategies to support your team, this podcast is for you. Let's dive in. Today, we will discuss the popular notion of work life balance and why it's a myth.
Barb:Many people strive for work life balance, but it's important to recognize that this idea is not really obtainable in the way we typically think about what work life balance means. The first thing to think about is that work and life are not 2 separate things. Work is part of our life. So the goal should be to have a fulfilling life that includes work that we enjoy. They're not separate.
Barb:It's also a myth to think that we can achieve a perfect balance between work and our personal life. So when I think of a balance, I think of 50% of our time at work, 50% of our time spent with our personal life. And that's not really obtainable. Teachers spend a significant amount of time at work, which is why it's important to enjoy what we do. And if we have the expectation that every day we're going to have this perfect balance between work and our personal life, We're just setting ourselves up for failure because that's not a realistic expectation.
Barb:The number of hours that teachers work may vary throughout the year depending on what time of year that is. For example, at the beginning and end of the year at my school, I know there's more events happening and parents in the building. So teachers are working more and longer hours, same with during conference times. So it's not really the same all year. Also, you might have to spend more time on your personal life.
Barb:If you have a sick relative or you're taking care of somebody, you may find that you're missing school for that. And that's just a season in your life where you're having to spend more time on personal things. There is never going to be this perfect balance. Instead of focusing on this daily balance, we should consider the different seasons throughout the year and the calendar and the best way to find balance between work and our personal life and maximize the times when we're not in school, such as evenings, weekends, breaks. Just think about those times and how can we take advantage to relax and recharge.
Barb:I'm going to give some tips to maximize your weekends and your breaks. So tip number 1 is to plan ahead. So create a list of tasks that need to be accomplished during the week and prioritize them according to their importance and it'll help you stay focused and avoid wasting time. One of my favorite things to do because I'm such a planner is to fill out my calendar that's on my refrigerator. And I create a list of all the things that we have going on after school and all the events, and that helps me stay focused.
Barb:I also put in some things that I want to get done around the house and that avoids me wasting time. And that's also helpful if there's a long break, you can, you know, list out some things that you want to get done during that longer break. Also set goals. If there's any work related tasks you want to complete on your weekends or during a break, set a goal and a time limit for how much time you're going to spend on it. For example, if you have some papers to grade and you want to do it on a Saturday morning, there's nothing wrong with that if it helps get you caught up, but just set a time limit.
Barb:From 9 to 10, I'm grading papers. After that, they go in my bag and I'm done. That way, it it gives you time to spend with your family and time with your own personal life. I have had friends that just spend the whole weekend grading and so when it's time to go back to school, they didn't have any time to recharge and take care of themselves because they spent the whole weekend working on school. So set realistic goals and set times for those goals of when you're going to get that work done.
Barb:Also make sure to take care of yourself. So use weekends and breaks to get extra sleep, more exercise, maybe go for walks more since you have more time, eat healthy, but this will help you recharge and return to work feeling refreshed. Tip number 4 is disconnect. This is such a huge thing I think that teachers need to do is take a break from technology and social media for 1 to reduce stress and increase productivity, but also take work email off your phone and take any messaging apps that you message with teachers. Take them off your phone.
Barb:Don't message with parents after school. Once your school hours are done, that app should have office hours and you should be done answering because when you're at home, you should have that time with your family. You should not be messaging on that app with parents. Set those boundaries for yourself. Disconnect.
Barb:I took work email off my phone and it is the most amazing thing ever. I found you can take it off your phone and still have your calendar on your phone, and that has been so good for my own self care. Also take time to reflect. I love using weekends and longer breaks to reflect on how work is going. I'll check-in with myself, like, have I been feeling overwhelmed?
Barb:Do I need to change my schedule when I go back to school? What routines do I need to tweak to make them a little less stressful in the morning? So I really like to take that time to reflect. Also keep your routine. So on the weekends, it might be okay to say, Hey, I'm gonna sleep in certain days to get extra sleep, but over long breaks, especially in the summer, I encourage you to create a routine that helps you stay productive and focused on the things you choose.
Barb:For me, I wake up every morning at 5 o'clock in the morning, and my kids don't get up till 6:30. So that gives me an hour and a half to myself. And even on breaks, I keep that routine because I love that hour and a half that I have to myself to exercise, to journal, to reflect. It's just nice to have that time for me. So I keep that routine and then it makes it easier when it's time to go back to school.
Barb:Waking up early is not a big deal to me. Also make plans to visit your family and friends. Use that break to reconnect with people that you don't get to see often and spend some quality time with them. Maybe go see a friend you haven't seen in a while and visit them and have some lunch. Remember the key to achieving balance between work and your personal life is just maximizing times when you're not at work.
Barb:Hopefully by following these tips, you can make the most of your breaks and return to work, feeling recharged and refreshed. Thank you for tuning into the teacher burnout podcast. I hope you found this episode informative and helpful. And if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me. You can follow me on Instagram, educator burnout.
Barb:Please subscribe to this podcast and stay tuned for the next episode. I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
