You Don’t Owe Teaching Your Exhaustion

We reframe tired as a sign of giving and walk through three practical moves to protect energy, mindset, and morale. We also challenge school leaders to streamline instead of piling on “one last thing” so staff can breathe and sustain the work.

• wellness as presence not perfection
• five intentional minutes to start grounded
• one boundary kept with conviction
• restoration before depletion with daily 10 minutes
• permission to own boundaries without guilt
• leaders choosing alignment, clarity and subtraction
• fewer initiatives and competing priorities
• simple steps that change how the day feels

If this episode resonated with you, do me a huge favor, share with a colleague, like and like and subscribe and download on whatever podcast platform you're listening to
If you know someone that needs this reminder, please share with them, let them know that they matter
Like, subscribe, review, do all those things. More importantly, take care of yourselves

www.EdwardDeShazer.org

Transcript

Reframing Tired As Giving

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you're tired right now, it doesn't mean that you're failing. It means that you are giving. If your motivation feels lower than usual, it doesn't mean that you don't care. It means that you're caring a lot. And if you realize that you need to change how you show up for yourself, that's not a weakness. That is awareness.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

If you're an educator that's passionate, but you're tired and you're burnt out and you're wondering what to do next. This is a show for you. We're gonna learn together, we're gonna recharge together, and we're gonna grow together so you can be the best you and serve your students and your community to the best of your ability.

Wellness Is Presence Not Perfection

Guard The First Five Minutes

One Boundary You’ll Actually Keep

Restore Before You’re Empty

A Direct Message To Leaders

Simple Takeaways And Closing

SPEAKER_00 0:39

What's going on, Pod? Welcome back to the Teachers Ed Podcast. I am your host, Ebert is Shazer, and today we are continuing uh the conversation around staff wellness and morale. Over the last few episodes, um, with the last episode we talked about wellness from a systems and a leadership perspective, um, how culture, how communication, how expectations either support your educators and your staff or solely drain them. But what I want to do in today, what I want to do in today, one of them days, what I would like to do today, uh zoom in a little bit closer, because even in some of the strongest schools, even with the most supportive leadership, even with incredible teammates in your building, educators are still human. And by this point of the year, a lot of you are tired in ways that sleep alone is not gonna fix. So this episode here is for the educators who are still showing up, the educators who are are still caring, the educators who are still giving their best. Uh, but who knows deep down that something has to shift if they're gonna finish this year in a healthy way. So this episode is not about doing more. This episode is not about fixing yourself. This is not about coming the brand new you, new year, new you. This episode is about being intentional with how you show up for yourself right now in the middle of the year. So I'm gonna walk you through three things you can start doing today, not uh tomorrow, not next week, not next month, but today. So you can help protect your energy, protect your mindset, and protect your morale. I want to give you a couple small shifts, um, really some real shifts and some sustainable shifts uh that can help you. So let's jump right in. First one, uh, one of the biggest lies that we as educators believe is that wellness requires perfection. Uh, it requires perfect routines, it requires perfect habits, it requires perfect consistency, and when we can't do it all perfectly, we don't do it at all. But real wellness doesn't show up in perfection, it shows up in presence. Wellness is how you walk into your building, it is how you talk to yourself after a hard moment, it is how you transition between classes, it is how you respond when things don't go as planned. And by January, most educators don't need another strategy. Uh, what they need is margin, they need space to breathe, they need permission to slow down, they need reminders that they are humans and not these machines that teach students. So, everything we talk about today is going to be designed to give you margin and not add more pressure. So, the first tip that I would give you is to be intentional with the first moments of your day. Most educators, most people start the day in reaction mode. Your alarm goes off, your phone lights up, emails, weather, calendar, mentally replaying yesterday, what's going on, what's going wrong, anticipating everything that could go wrong in the day. And before your feet even hit the floor, your nervous system is already in overdrive. And here's the truth you don't start the day at the school, you start the day when you wake up. So, what I'm not asking you to do, I'm not asking you to wake up earlier. I'm not asking you for a full morning routine overhaul. I'm not asking you to dip your face in the in the bucket of iced Saratoga water. What I'm asking you to do is protect uh the first five intentional minutes. The first five minutes where you don't check your phone, you take some deep breaths, you just remind yourself that you don't have to solve every single problem today. You might sit on the edge of your bed, uh, you might stretch, you might pray, you might just breathe and notice your body. Those five minutes are not gonna change your schedule, but they will change how you enter the day. And when you enter the day grounded, you will respond instead of reacting. You will become more patient with your students, you will recover quicker when the day goes sideways. Because news flash educators, the day is going to go sideways. Wellness is often gonna start before the chaos and not after it. So starting grounded is gonna help you enter the day well. But even with a calm start, the day is gonna demand a lot from you. And that is where my second tip comes in. And the second way that you can be intentional with yourself is choose one boundary and keep it constantly. This is where many educators struggle. We hear about boundaries and think I need to fix everything, I need to say no to everything, I need to overhaul my entire life. And that is overwhelming and it never lasts. So instead, I want today you just to choose one boundary that protects your energy, and I want you to commit to it for the rest of the year. Just one. Because one boundary that you actually honor is more powerful than 10 boundaries that you abandon by February. And that boundary could be uh not answering emails after a certain time, taking lunch away from your desk once or twice a week, leaving on time one day a week, uh saying no to that extra responsibility, not taking work home on Fridays. Um, because here's the part that we don't talk about enough. Boundaries don't work unless you believe you're allowed to have them. I'm gonna repeat this again. Boundaries don't work unless you believe you are allowed to have them. And many educators sadly do not believe they're allowed to have boundaries. We feel guilty, we feel selfish, we feel like we're letting someone down. And I want to say this clearly: you don't owe this profession your exhaustion. Boundaries don't mean that you care any less about your students, it doesn't mean that you care any less about your job or about the school you're at. They mean that you want to last longer. And longevity matters. It matters for you, it matters for your students, and it matters for the people that you love outside of school. So we got starting grounded, first five minutes that helps you start the day. Then we're shifting into boundaries that are gonna help you survive the day. But then the last piece that often gets overlooked is that restoration piece. And the third way I want you to be intentional with yourself is to I want you to identify one thing that genuinely refills you and do it on purpose. Not something that distracts you, uh, not something that numbs you, something that actually restores you. For some people, that's movement. For others, it's quiet time. For others, it maybe it's just music, journaling, praying, walking, uh, being outside for me. I love to take walks in nature and I love to golf. Those are my restorative activities. The problem is most educators wait until they're completely depleted to refill. And by then, everything feels heavier, patience is running thinner, joy feels so much further away. Uh, wellness works best for us as educators when it's preventative, not reactive. So I want you to ask yourself, what makes me feel like myself again? And then ask yourself, how can I do that for 10 minutes a day? I'm not asking for you to carve 30, 45 an hour. I'm just asking, how can you find 10 minutes a day to do that thing? 10 minutes is not gonna fix everything, but 10 minutes consistently can change how heavy the work uh feels for you on a day-to-day basis. Your students don't need a version of you that is constantly drained, they need a version of you that is regulated, uh present, and human. I want to pause uh for a second and say this because if you're tired right now, it doesn't mean that you're failing. It means that you are giving. If your motivation feels lower than usual, it doesn't mean that you don't care. It means that you're caring a lot. Uh, and if you realize that you need to change how you show up for yourself, that's not a weakness, that is awareness. And staff, wellness, and morale doesn't improve when people push harder. It improves when people feel supported and when they learn to support themselves without guilt. And before I wrap up, the last people I need to pause and talk to for a moment, because this part is specifically for admins, superintendents, principals, vice principals, associate principals, anyone that is in school leadership. So if you are in school leadership right now, I need you to stop what you are doing and I need you to listen for a second because this one is for you. If you're thinking about the back half of the school year, I want you to ask yourself one simple question before you roll out anything new. Will this make more work for my staff or will it streamline things? And I want you to be honest. If this, if the answer isn't clearly that it streamlines, stop. Stop immediately because educators right now do not need more initiatives. Uh, they do not need more paperwork, they do not need more meetings, they do not need more emails or more one last thing. What educators right now need more than anything is alignment. They need clarity, they need consistency, and they need fewer competing priorities pulling them in different uh directions. Wellness isn't just about self-care tips and morale boosters. Um, wellness shows up with how you protect your staff's time, energy, and focus. Every new initiative, even a good one, costs something. And if you're not subtracting somewhere else, that cost comes directly out of your staff's capacity. So before you add anything this semester, ask, what can I simplify? What can I remove, and what can I clarify? Because the fastest way to support staff wellness isn't doing more for them, it's asking less of them. So as you move into the rest of the week, I want you to remember these things. Start your day grounded, even if it's just for five minutes, choose one boundary and honor that boundary and refill your energy before it's empty. You don't need a full reset, you don't need a new version of yourself. You just need to be intentional with the version of you that already exists. Your presence as an educator matters, your energy as an educator matters, and your wellness as an educator matters. And when you begin to show up for yourself, you show up better for your students, you show up better for your colleagues, you show up better for your community, and that is how school culture ultimately changes. One supported educator at a time. That's all I got for you. That's it for today's episode of Teachers Ed Podcast. If this episode resonated with you, do me a huge favor, share with a colleague, like and like and subscribe and download on whatever podcast platform you're listening to. If you know someone that needs this reminder, please share with them, let them know that they matter. And as always, thank you for being a part of this community, uh one that believes educators deserve support, sustainability, and respect. And until next time, uh take care of yourself, take care of the people you love, take care of your students, um, and keep building those bridges amongst each other. I'm Edward DeShazer. Like, subscribe, review, do all those things. More importantly, take care of yourselves. Appreciate you all. Love you all. Have a good rest of the week.