Personal Commitments this School Year

 Self-Care for teachers is no joke. In my experience, it is extremely easy to get fully invested in teaching. Thoughts about school interrupt other parts of your life. It’s hard to set things down and come back to them the next day. We are dealing with children’s lives.

But, when we are always working, always planning, creating, thinking about our students, worrying about things related to work, it can steal our joy. The joy of living our lives and even the joy of teaching. When I first started teaching, I was all in. I woke up early to plan and create lessons. I did things on nights and weekends. I am still all in, but it looks different now. 

What I have learned is that finding balance with work makes me a better teacher, a better mom and wife and frankly a better human being. Taking care of myself, having time to rest, and having fun all allow me to be a richer human being. I have learned that I function better and probably my teaching is more effective.

Finding balance and setting boundaries is extremely difficult for me. I always want to say yes. I want to be part of solutions. BUT always saying yes has a cost. This school year, I have made some agreements with myself. I am committed to keeping them, so I put together a visual reminder that I will post in my classroom and keep in my planner. There are some things I am committing to do. I will show up for my students and I will do my job to the best of my ability. I will take care of myself and also schedule my work so I can use my time wisely. There are other things I am committing to that I will not do. For example, I will not do anyone else’s job. Sadly, I have been an over-functioner and have found myself doing things other people should. No longer. I will not pretend I am okay when I am not. I am committing to myself to keep these boundaries this school year. 

If you are interested in doing the same, check out My Personal Agreements on TPT for free. I shared my own and a few different blank templates. I found the most powerful aspect of these agreements was to begin with my purpose. What am I made to do and what is my overall goal? This came out of years of work and reading through. If you want to know more, check out his book. You don’t have to have a huge purpose statement or be 100% sure of what you want for the rest of your life. Deciding what your goal or purpose is for the school year is a great starting point. Then find things that will help you focus on that goal. Knowing for you what will help you be successful and what will take away from your goal is a great starting point. 

If you are a brand new teacher or brand new to setting boundaries, it can be a bit overwhelming. I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I continue to grow and learn about how to do this. Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t successful right out of the gate. We are all works in progress. I know I sure struggled with this last year, which is why I’m making my commitments more visual for myself. I also will check in with myself around the new year and see if there is anything I need to adjust. What I will say is that you deserve to decide for yourself what is important for you. Everyone, not just teachers, can benefit from setting boundaries and making personal commitments. I’d love to know what some of your commitments are for this year.