180 Days of Self-Care for Busy Educators. Tina H. Boogren

of the day on your fabulous compilation and check in mentally to see if it impacts your mood. Does listening in the morning feel different than listening in the afternoon? Do you crave different music in the evening? Pay attention to all of these details. You might consider engaging in mindful listening, which is similar to mindful eating (page 129). To do this, close your eyes and give your full attention to the song you’re listening to. Imagine what a person with synesthesia (sensations accompanying others, such as seeing colors when listening to music) might see or feel when listening to your songs. Write your observations about your experiences in the margins here.

      • Friday: Share your playlist with a colleague, friend, or family member (kind of like when we used to give someone a mixed tape if you’re of a certain age). Or, if you’re a teacher, play at least one or two songs during class with your students. Try incorporating music into your curriculum, regardless of grade or subject. You might even consider starting lunchroom karaoke! What about a student or staff (or both) dance party in the morning or to end the day? Additionally, you could invite your students to share one of their favorite (school-appropriate) songs with you or the class as a way to get to know one another at the start of the school year. Staff could do this together as a way to build school culture and community.

      If you’re an administrator, play songs during passing period or before or after school through the speaker system. See how playing music at the start of class or during passing period alters the climate. If students have an assessment, perhaps you can play some music to pump them up and get them ready before they begin. Or you could play music as a way to celebrate students’ accomplishments—either the whole class’ or individual students’.

      Now that you’ve experimented with your playlists the last few days, spread the joy today!

Reflect on the Week

      When and how did you incorporate music into your schedule this week? Which options did you choose and why?

      How did the power of music impact your week?

      How did sharing your playlist impact your day (and those around you)?

      Do you plan to continue making music part of your routine? Why and how?

Week Two: Nutrition and Hydration (Days 6–10)

      I know, I know, it’s not always fun to consider how the food we put in our bodies impacts how we feel, but the truth of the matter is, taking control over what we eat can have a huge impact on our mood and overall well-being (Naidoo, 2018). I’ve made massive shifts in my nutrition, and the biggest—totally unexpected—payoff of doing the hard work in this area has been my happiness. By eating foods that align with my health goals, I have found that my mood has stabilized (at a good place). Because I feel good physically, my energy and stamina are at all-time highs.

      All that said, it’s not always easy to make the choices that I want or need to make. Of course, there’s a time and a place to splurge and enjoy homemade cookies or tortilla chips and guacamole (my all-time favorite treat). I just try to limit those splurges for special occasions or situations rather than indulging regularly. On a daily basis, it’s important to keep blood sugar levels balanced. Balancing blood sugar helps you avoid “adrenal fatigue, weight gain, sleep disturbances, and cardiovascular disease” (Ryan, n.d.). By balancing your blood sugar, you can move away from energy spikes and terrible crashes brought on by the sugary treats that we sometimes rely on to get through the day. This week, choose an option (adapted from Healthline Editorial Team, n.d.) that feels like a challenge but is still within reach.

      

This week’s invitation: Think about nutrition and your happiness.

      • Don’t skip meals: It’s so very easy to miss breakfast when you’re hustling to get out the door, or to miss lunch when you’re trying to get three things checked off your to-do list during a twenty-minute lunch break. If you choose this option, commit to not skipping any meals. Not eating meals “makes your body less able to assimilate food” and makes you more likely to overeat at the next meal (Healthline Editorial Team, n.d.). You can try prepping meals the day before or allowing a few extra minutes in the morning to eat breakfast and pack a lunch.

      Try to eat without distractions, too, so you can tune in to how stopping to eat (instead of skipping a meal or eating on the run) makes you feel. You might discover that stuffing a protein bar into your mouth while you’re at the copy machine isn’t nearly as satisfying as eating with intention and savoring the food.

      If you’re working with a partner or a team, consider sharing the load here. Perhaps one person can bring lunch to share on Monday and Tuesday and you can bring lunch to share on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. If your school has an active parent teacher organization (PTO), consider asking them to host a bimonthly teacher appreciation lunch with an emphasis on healthy foods.

      • Keep a food journal: A food journal doesn’t have to be complicated or burdensome. Consider keeping track of everything you eat and drink and writing down how you feel before, during, and after eating or drinking each item. You can use a notebook, a notes app, or the template in figure 1.1 (pages 15–16) to journal.

      Later, you can reflect on where your nutrition is coming from and how what you eat impacts how you feel. For example, after journaling you may notice that when you had a bagel on Tuesday, you were hungry an hour later, but when you had eggs on Wednesday, you weren’t hungry until lunch. Or you might discover that on Tuesday, you reached for a sweet treat at 2:30 p.m. and that this felt good in the moment, but you crashed (and felt guilty about your choice) at 4:00 p.m. With that realization, on Wednesday you may decide you want to try an apple and some almond butter at 2:30 p.m. to see if you feel less tired (and less guilty) at 4:00 p.m. Are your food choices different on the weekend versus during the week? Do those choices impact your mood at all?

      • Drink more water: You’ve heard this one before. No matter how much water you currently drink, make it your mission to increase that number by at least eight ounces. Generally, adults should drink eight ounces of water eight times per day—the 8×8 rule—because water increases our energy levels and brain function and helps prevent and treat headaches (Leech, 2017), which are a nightmare when you’re trying to lead a class or staff. If you have trouble getting enough water, consider the following.

       FIGURE 1.1: FOOD JOURNAL.

      Visit go.SolutionTree.com/teacherefficacy for a free reproducible version of this figure.

      ◦ Buy yourself a new water bottle that makes you feel good! It doesn’t have to be expensive; just choose something that appeals to you so you’re more apt to reach for it.

      ◦ Maybe you tend to drink more when you have a straw. I do. These days, many water bottle lids have built-in straws; you can buy dishwasher-safe stainless-steel straws that you can use again and again (and that also help save the environment). According to Bethany Blakeman (2018) of New York magazine, SipWell are the best regular-sized stainless-steel straws available.

      ◦ To help keep track of how much water you’ve drunk, secure rubber bands around the top of your water bottle, and for every bottle that you finish, move one rubber band to the bottom of your bottle before refilling. For example, if you have a thirty-two-ounce water bottle, you can put two rubber bands around the top of your bottle (because you need to drink two of those to make your sixty-four ounces). If you have a sixteen-ounce water bottle, you can put four rubber