Minding Your Own Business

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Prioritizing your own wellbeing in the new school year

BY CATHRYN RICE

Each summer for the last twenty-six years, I would spend countless hours planning and preparing for the upcoming school year. As a teacher, this would often take the form of me reviewing my standards; researching new strategies, resources, or ideas to teach my standards; and thinking of how I wanted to best organize my classroom, students, and daily schedule. This process happened regardless of the grade I was teaching, the subjects I would teach, or whether or not I had to move my classroom (which happened on average about every 2-3 years).

As an administrator, this anticipation and planning for the “new year” always included the obvious planning: master schedule, class lists, duty schedules, supply lists, technology needs, budgeting, teacher supplies and materials, office supplies, maintenance and facilities requests, interviewing for open positions, etc. In planning for the school, I would also identify how I needed to organize and plan for myself. I would schedule in advance dental, eye, and doctor appointments. I would add important meeting dates for committees or teams I served on for OAESA, NAESP, as well as those for my district. I would then add our building priorities, such as school events, staff meetings, district professional development days, and board of education meetings.

Those appointments were placed on my personal Google Calendar, school Calendar and in my paper agenda (yes, I still use one of those). I would also coordinate events on those three calendars to make sure I didn’t “forget” something important. Any necessary additions such as my child’s school or sporting events were also added as were those of my husband’s (notice the order I prioritized everything: school, child, spouse). It is no accident that this was the “order” of things in my life, nor was it an accident that outside of doctor appointments “time for self” was excluded in the order of things.

As educators, we are accustomed to being servant leaders. We are always prioritizing the needs of others above ourselves. This is why education is and always has been a “calling” and not just a job. Now, I will admit that any working parent/spouse will have these same challenges. However, as educators, especially as building or district administrators, we rarely have time “out of the office.” Access to administrators “after hours” through direct calls, text messages, or even district sponsored apps, gives staff, parents and even students unlimited access to us around the clock. For other professionals, this is not the case. And, I would argue, it is truly something that set forth in motion the practices I established in the last three years to prioritize my own wellbeing.

Let’s face it, when we started the 2019-2020 school year, none of us would have predicted what would have happened. But there I was three years ago, preparing for another school year: full of hopes, dreams, and excitement. After organizing my calendars for the upcoming school year, I made the first big decision in a series of decisions that would set me on a course for prioritizing my well-being: I set a “Do Not Disturb” schedule on my phone. This started at 7:30 each night and did not end until 6:00 the

following morning. Why did I do this? Typically, after a normal work day was over for both my husband and me (meaning dinner was made, eaten, and dishes were done), I would not sit down to rest until 7:30. Invariably, Sunday through Thursday night, I would receive either calls, text messages, emails, or other app notifications for communication. I would respond to these, of course, and in the process, miss out on important down time for myself and my family.

The second “big thing” I did was take district email off my personal phone. Whoa! What did she say? That’s right, I took district email off my phone, and even crazier still, I deleted the school communication apps from my phone. In my previous district, building principals did not receive a separate phone nor a stipend for using their personal phones. After learning about the legal implications of using your personal device for school business, I decided that I would have a separation between school and home. If I brought home my school issued laptop, I would log into that to check email (when I had time or if I knew something needed addressed before the next day).

At first, the process was excruciating! My anxiety about responding to emails, texts, and phone calls was in overdrive. However, these were clear signs that I was making the right decision.T his also led me to share this with my staff: I was establishing clear boundaries for myself, and I wanted the same for them. I wanted my staff to enjoy their time with their families or just to enjoy life in general. I knew if they could “turn off” school, they would come to work the next day reinvigorated! What I learned (after getting over the initial shock), is that we all adjusted, families included, that my staff and I would return calls, emails, and messages first thing the next day (we called it our 24 hour window).

Obviously, we all know how that school year ended as the pandemic was just getting started. However, my journey into prioritizing my own wellbeing continued. With the uncertainty that the 2020-2021 school year was bringing, I still planned for the upcoming school year albeit with new challenges and restrictions in place to ensure everyone’s safety. However, what I did differently is that I changed my personal planner/agenda to one that I customized for myself. In this agenda, I included two key sections: “Daily Gratitude” and “Daily Self Care.” Having a moment of gratitude, especially during a very challenging school year each day, was the beginning of me subconsciously needing to practice mindfulness. I think each of us can appreciate how incomprehensible some of our challenges are as building and district leaders some days. Taking 60-90 seconds to write down what I am grateful for helped see me through some very exhausting days (especially if you were in charge of a building where you had both in-person and remote learning and it felt like you were running two buildings simultaneously).

The second section “Daily Self Care” included things that I needed to do for myself to give me something to look forward to at the beginning or end of the day. As I look back, some of those included a Diet Coke from McDonalds (IYKYK), hot shower, charcoal mask, yoga, exercise, watching a favorite TV show, or reading. Occasionally, the self care section had things like massage, manicure, pedicure, facial, or hair appointment. But more often than not, they were small things that made me smile. These little “nuggets” were not only ways I was going to take care of myself, but also things I could look forward to after school each day.

This past school year, I began journaling. Wow! What a huge difference that has made in my overall wellbeing. Each morning, I begin my day with 10 minutes of reflection and ask myself how I am feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I also write my gratitude entry and self-care of the day entry. I identified patterns with anxiety, my sleep habits, and any physical pain (for example, if I didn’t sleep well due to anxiety, I would feel pain). I knew I needed to make additional changes to ensure that I slept well. Those changes were slow to emerge, but eventually, I knew I needed to incorporate a bedtime routine that allowed me to decompress (and, unfortunately, did not include the the previously mentioned postwork Diet Coke).

“As educators, we rarely have time

‘out of the office.’

Access to administrators after hours through calls, text messages, or districtsponsored apps, gives staff, parents, and even students unlimited access to us around the clock.

For other professionals,

this is not the case.”

So how did all of this really benefit me? By minding my own business and prioritizing my own well being, my relationships with my family improved; my relationships with my staff improved (which surprised me); my sleep improved and I experienced less anxiety; and I was “sick” less than in previous years. Like many, I’m still a work in progress, but if I could tell my younger self anything, it is to slow down and “mind your own business.” Cathryn Rice is the former NAESP Representative for Ohio and OAESA Executive Board Member. Cathryn currently serves as a member of OAESA’s Advocacy Team. She has 26 years experience in education, with 15 years as a building administrator. You can contact her via Twitter at the handle @PetticrewC.