What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Resilience S.2 E.27
Listen to this episode to find out why resilience for teachers is both needed and beneficial, and you can become more resilient.
Show notes:
Episode Summary:
We’re hearing about it everywhere and you are probably hearing about it too. It has become the latest buzzword word in education. We’re talking about resilience. We all have an idea of what it means to be resilient, and a vague idea of why teachers need resilience. But, why is this today’s buzzword? Is resilience overhyped? What is resilience? Why do you need to be more resilient? And most importantly, how can you become more resilient? Today we are exploring resilience.
In this episode:
Resilience has resurfaced as one of the recent buzz words in education. Everyone is talking about it. We’re told that we need to teach students to be more resilient. We’re also told that teachers need to be more resilient, and then given some vague help like, you need to journal to be more grateful.
There is nothing wrong with gratitude journaling, but it got us thinking. What do we really know about resilience? Why do we need to be more resilient, and how can we become more resilient?
What is resilience?
Resilience refers to the ability to adapt, bounce back, and recover from challenges, adversity, or setbacks. It involves maintaining one’s mental and emotional well-being during difficult times and finding ways to effectively cope with stress and hardship. Resilience is not about avoiding difficulties, it is about facing them with a positive and adaptable mindset.
Given that definition, it is easy to see why there is so much talk about resilience for teachers.
In your life and in your work, you are always going to have challenges. Those challenges will affect your mental and emotional wellbeing. Resilience is the ability to deal with those challenges- to take positive action, to reduce potential stress. It is about understanding the personal power you have to deal with your challenges in a way that feels right to you. We say it all the time, you have more power than you think!
Resilient people choose their reactions and focus on the things that they can control. We’ve preciously discussed why you should be focusing on your circle of control in podcast episode 8, Choose Your Battles.
Why do we need to be resilient?
- Coping with Challenges: Life is full of challenges, and individuals who are resilient are better equipped to navigate these challenges without becoming overwhelmed by them.
- Mental Health: Resilience plays a crucial role in maintaining good mental health. It helps all of us manage stress, anxiety, and depression more effectively.
- Adaptability: Resilient people can adapt to changes and uncertainties more easily, which is particularly valuable in a rapidly changing world.
- Personal Growth: Overcoming adversity can lead to personal growth and increased self-confidence. People who are resilient often learn valuable life lessons from their experiences.
Here are some times when you might have been resilient in your teaching….
- You may have adapted to online learning during the pandemic- learning new skills quickly and finding creative ways to engage your students virtually.
- You may have developed strategies to engage that student who was especially challenging, connecting with them while still maintaining a positive classroom environment for all of your students.
- Maybe you found effective ways to navigate working with challenging parents, coworkers or administrators without letting others peoples’ negativity zap your passion.
- If you are working on best handling the workload pressures of teaching to avoid burnout so you can maintain your love of teaching, you are being resilient!
In each of these examples, resilience involves adapting to different situations, maintaining a solution-oriented mindset, and prioritizing the well-being of your students and yourselves despite the challenges you face as an educator.
How can you become more resilient?
Consider how you think about challenges and what you say about them.
In a recent article, Harvard psychologist Dr. Cortney Warren discussed phrases that people often use that demonstrate that they are more resilient than most. We decided to reverse the process with the idea that if we start to use these phrases, we are acting in more resilient ways, and repeated use of phrases like these will become a habit. It is the old idea that if you want something, act as if.
For example, if you want to eat more healthy foods, act as if you are a person who eats healthy foods. Then, when confronted by a doughnut or a bowl of Greek yogurt, ask yourself, “Which one of these would a healthier eater choose?” Then do that.
In the same way, when confronted by a challenge, use the types of phrases that resilient people use. If you keep doing it, gradually, it becomes a habit. Act as if.
Let’s look at some specific examples.
1. “I can get through this.” Or, “As much as I hate this, I can survive it.”
Example: You are facing a very difficult parent-teacher meeting. You are upset and nervous. However, you plan what you will say and have good examples of student work to share with the parent.
Emotional resilience is associated with grit and mental toughness. There is an understanding that we have to be strong and overcome adversity without letting it break us.
2. “I’m not going to let myself be a victim.”
Example: You have a great idea for ways to implement a new curriculum. You share it with a colleague, who then brings up the idea at a faculty meeting as if it was her own idea.
You are angry and hurt. Of course you are! But you don’t want to cause a problem. You feel like a victim.
Being resilient means that when you experience the pain of mistreatment, you shift your perspective from “I’m a victim and powerless to help myself” to “How can I grow from this?”
You resolve to talk to that teacher and let her know that you didn’t appreciate that she passed off your ideas as her own. You then ask for her to give you the credit that you deserve.
3. “What can I learn from this?”
Openness to experiences and the ability to shift your perspective from “Why did this happen to me?” to “What can I take from this to help me grow?” can help you better navigate through life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Example: You have a meeting with your administrator and find out that you were implementing a new initiative in the wrong way. There was clearly a communication breakdown somewhere along the line and you are worried that it might have been a large part on your end. You can feel bad about yourself or you can say, “what can I learn from this?”.
4. “I need some time.”
A key component of resilience is emotional flexibility, or the ability to regulate your feelings and reduce their intensity in a given situation. Mastery over this can help us feel empowered during challenging times.
Example: You encounter a negative colleague in the hallway. They corner you and tell you that they are upset about something you said to another teacher that clearly upset them (though you may still be wondering why that upset them so much). They want to argue it out right there in the hallway.
You could also say, “I’m feeling a strong emotion, so I’m going to take a moment before I respond or make any big decisions.” In this way you can respond and stay professional while also giving yourself some time to reflect. We’ve both benefited from this idea, and realize that with more time, we could be less reactive and make better choices.
5. “It is what it is.”
The key to resilience is not denying reality or seeking out a reason that makes us feel better about why something happened. When we arrive at a place of radical acceptance, the situation has less power over us.
Example: We both say this phrase often. When we encounter a roadblock in our business, one of us will likely say, “It is what it is” and then we move into problem solving mode. For example, this past summer we reserved a room at a local venue to conduct a summer workshop. Right after we booked the room and put down the down payment, we learned that a large educational conference was planned for the same day and in the same city. Obviously, we had no control over the date of the large conference so we had to move our workshop to a different date so local teachers did not have to choose between the two. This meant contacting the venue, changing our date, updating all of our marketing materials and moving our workshop to a date that wasn’t our first choice. But it just was what it was. Being upset about it wouldn’t have changed the reality of the situation. If you are wondering how it turned out, we had a lovely group of teachers and an excellent workshop on our 2nd choice date.
6. “I’m letting this go.”
Staying mired in resentment, wanting retribution, or focusing on payback keeps us holding on to past pain. Developing resilience requires getting to a place where we can see difficult life circumstances for what they are and actively choosing to let them go.
The next time you find yourself on the edge of something you can’t control, let it go. It does not serve you to waste your time and energy on something that is out of your control. This has been a great mantra for me personally, and has saved a lot of useless worry at the expense of my mental health.
“Dr. Warren also suggests that resilient people use these additional phrases that you may want to try out:
“Life is hard.”
“I won’t always be happy with how things play out. But it’s part of the journey.”
“This, too, shall pass.”
“Each day is an opportunity to feel a little better.”
“I may be struggling, but I can find a way to be thankful for the good things in my life.”
“There’s always a gift, even in the darkest experiences — I just need to figure out what it is. How can I use this experience to empower and transform me?”
These phrases are connected to many of the topics we’ve cover on this podcast, growth mindset, mindset shifts, your circle of control, being bold, setting boundaries and others. In the beginning of this episode we questioned, why the hype? Do teachers need resilience? Our answer is a resounding yes, now more than ever. And, with a little thought and practice in how you phrase your experiences, you can develop more emotional resilience.
Recap:
Resiliency is a valuable skill and it helps us to navigate our challenges in a positive way. With some practice you can learn to reframe your experiences in a way that makes you stronger.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Related Episodes/Blog Posts:
Inspired Together Teachers Podcast ep. 8, Choose Your Battles
Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:
Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.
Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com
Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers
Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers
Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group
Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers
More About Inspired Together Teachers:
Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?
If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.
Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.
Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.
Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.
Leave a Reply