What are your thoughts when you hear the term self-care?
What are your thoughts as you hear the term self-care?
I know that for some this phrase really doesn’t resonate - perhaps because too much talk around well-being is placed on the individual and not on the system. Or that the broad field of well-being is sometimes narrowed down to only include self-care.
It is clear that there is wider change that needs to happen at a systems level to ensure that the work of educators is sustainable. But as the previous episodes of this series have highlighted, the role as it stands comes with considerable demands and high levels of emotional labour. Self-care falls under the habits domain of the SEARCH framework for well-being (Waters and Loton, 2019) and although not the whole picture it is an important component of looking after your well-being through these challenges.
So what are your habits of self-care like?
I hope that they are better than the American school leaders who took part in this study:
‘School leaders work longer hours, are more sleep deprived, more dehydrated, have poorer diet practices, exercise less regularly, and spend less time with their friends and family than the general population.’ (Ray et al, 2020).
Other studies painted a more positive picture with school leaders taking part in spiritual or mindfulness practices and using social coping strategies such as meeting up with friends. Although, I have some doubts about whether the frequency they describe could be classed as a habit.
But maybe some of the aversion to the word self-care comes from it feeling self-indulgent or a belief that your role as a school leader is to support your community. Ray et al’s study also found that the school leaders were motivated to self-care practices when they were in service of others, for example, looking well presented for parents or role modelling good practices for students. If this is the case for you, perhaps last week’s newsletter showing the links between your well-being and those you lead will be an extra motivating factor. Although my caveat here is that I would love for school leaders to view their well-being as important in its own right.
Or perhaps as mentioned in the study, you are happy with the term and know it is important but struggle to make it a reality. You have a strong knowledge of what good self-care looks like - it is changing this knowing into a doing which is the hard work.
This is a sobering quote from the paper’s discussion:
“Unhealthy self-care practices may influence their effectiveness, happiness, and possibly their longevity within the profession”
If any of the above resonates and looking after your well-being can be a challenge then you may find the question and invitation below helpful.
What gets in the way of putting in place habits of self-care - this could be structural, logistical reasons or thoughts and feelings?
There are two invitations this week depending on whether you enjoy writing or prefer creative approaches. They are both inspired by Ana Paula Nacif’s book on Coaching for Wellbeing.
Option 1: Best self well-being journaling. What are your best hopes for your well-being in 3 months, 6 months or 1 years time? What is the first thing you notice that is different? Who is part of this well-being vision? What are you doing and how is it making you feel? What are the ripple effects?
Option 2: Create a well-being vision board of images, phrases, pictures that are part of your well-being future.
In the positive leadership hub, we will take a deep dive into your well-being through small group coaching where you can learn from the collective wisdom of a group of school leaders all working on the same theme. If you would like to find out more then click the link below.
“Overall I gained a strong sense of connection with others as well as a better understanding of my own values & how to use them to guide me through this next chapter of my life in a way that also takes care of my own wellbeing. In essence, I just really enjoyed myself each and every session thanks to the care and encouragement of the group! “ Australian Educator
Ray, J., Pijanowski, J., & Lasater, K. (2020). The self-care practices of school principals. Journal of Educational Administration, 58(4), 435–451. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-04-2019-0073
Nacif, A. P. (2023). Coaching for Wellbeing: An Evidence-Based Guide for Practitioners.
Waters, L., & Loton, D. (2019). SEARCH: A Meta-Framework and Review of the Field of Positive Education. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 4(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-019-00017-4
