Choosing Self-Care and Renewal - Page 1 of 2

Choosing Self-Care and Renewal

Have you ever heard the statement, "If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always gotten"? Doing the same things in the same way tends to result in the same consequences over and over. Fortunately, with self-awareness, we can change! No matter how little self-care we are doing at the present time, we can improve on it bit by bit.

Ultimately, you will benefit. Your intimate relationships will benefit, and your students and peers will benefit. Education can be a rather "hazardous" profession. It can also be an immensely rewarding profession. It requires extraordinary amounts of caring, motivating, encouraging, and empowering of others. It also require focus and energy on the part of the educator. That's you we are talking about.

In order to repeatedly give so much to so many, you must have a source of ongoing replenishment. Been there, right? To find such resources, you often turn to staff development programs in order to learn more theories and methods to apply in the classroom. There is a basic problem using staff development programs for self-care and renewal. Traditional programs attempt to improve the educators from the outside in rather than the inside out. If schools and the educational systems are to improve, it will happen to the degree that we, as educators, find helpful and nourishing ways to empower and renew ourselves, as well as the degree to which we are supported in this task by school policy and practice.

Educators who practice self-care techniques and are supported in ongoing renewal are likely to move with increased enthusiasm through the often frustrating hazards and realities inherent in this profession. We live in an era of massive shifts in our understanding of life, meaning, purpose, and values.