Description: In this episode, Tina shares a personal reminder about listening to our bodies, the struggle to slow down, and why true self-care means allowing ourselves to pause and heal. If you need permission to rest, this is it.
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren. This is episode 22. And this week's invitation is a personal one, but I know you can just hear it in my voice. But I know many of you will relate to this and it is- when you are sick, rest.
So I just got back from our massive High Reliability Schools Summit. I know this podcast comes out a few weeks later, but as I record this, I just got back earlier, well, actually last week. And, uh, oof, I got hit, hit with the sickness pretty hard. I know it's been going around everywhere. There's a combination of COVID and influenza and norovirus and all the things. And there were 1, 500 people there. And all I know is that I came home and didn't get out of bed for two days. And I also know that that's really hard for me. Oh my goodness.
I have a hard time resting. I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this, but I feel really guilty. In fact, this is the first time in 15 years of doing this job that I had to reschedule a trip. I've never had to do that before. And the amount of guilt that I carried because of that was massive. And here's the deal. It was no big deal. My host was so gracious and so kind and easily made this all work. It was not a huge deal, quite honestly. And yet, I just had a hard time allowing myself the space to rest. As I've said numerous times, I'm a type A personality. I'm an Enneagram 3. I'm a go go go. And what's so fascinating about our bodies is that, hmm, they always let us know when we've pushed too hard.
I tested for COVID, I tested for influenza A and B, and it all came back negative. Now, I know those tests are a little bit iffy, but I think, quite honestly, what happened is I ran myself right into the ground. I did not sleep very well in the days of the summit and I stayed up way too late because I let my perfectionist tendencies get to me the night before my keynote. Oh, I went into the event having everything done and yet I just couldn't stop, ugh, changing my slides and adding this and changing this, and I know many, many of you will relate to this.
And you combine that with being on the go. And I think my body just said enough. And sometimes when we're not listening to the nudges, we get kind of the hard push. And I got the hard push that, nope. Tina, it's time to rest. And even when I got the push, it was hard for me to do that. So this week's invitation is really just about listening to our bodies and when our bodies tell us to rest. Let's rest.
I had a hard time giving up my workouts, not answering emails right away, not responding to texts. Like it's hard for me to just kind of shut out the world. Um, even, even with my, my husband nudging me to do so, setting up all the conditions so that I could do that and not, not being able to do that for a while.
And, um, Even on the third day. So yesterday I was starting to feel better and we had a very rare 70 degree day in February in Denver and so I was like, okay fresh air will be good and it was I got up and took a walk but then I came home and I decided that I needed to do a little bit of a workout and I did a little not too much but I think I paid the price because I didn't sleep very well and I don't feel good today. I have not let my body rest. I think my body is sending signals that say, no, no, Tina, we're serious. We really need you to rest.
So I'm going to really work on listening to my body and recognizing that, in fact, we don't even earn the right to rest. We just have the right to rest. And when we are sick, I know how hard it is for us to miss school, to miss work, especially because of the sub plans and all of the responsibilities. And yet, I'm just going to remind us. That it's okay for us to pause and to take care of ourselves and to allow ourselves to not do anything- without guilt. That it is perfectly fine to take a beat and to listen to our bodies and allow ourselves to fully rest and fully recover. And so that's what I'm going to do.
And so, if you find yourself, hmm, on the receiving end of COVID or influenza or norovirus or your body just saying enough is enough, I'm going to urge you to listen and to allow yourself to fully rest. And know that it is okay and it will be fine. Your students will be fine if you're gone for a day or two. Your workouts are just fine, not getting done. You will pick them back up. Everything is not lost for a few days laying in bed. And we know that we actually heal more quickly if we truly rest. And so I'm going to do that today. After I get done with this podcast, I realize the irony of me recording this right now. I got it. I got the irony. But I am going to allow myself to rest. And I'm going to encourage you all to do the same.
I am cheering so hard for you. Make it an amazing week. Please, please take care of yourselves. Listen to your body. Rest when you need to. Encourage your colleagues and your family and your students to rest as well. Let's just help support each other in this. And step up and help each other be able to, to really rest, knowing that that favor will get returned to us. Thanks, guys.
As always, a huge thank you to Adrienne for making this happen and for all the goodness that she brings into my life, all of our lives. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this incredible job I get to do. Thank you to my host who allowed me to reschedule this week's training, which really meant a lot to me. Thank you. And to you, my badass self care squad. Take care of yourselves. Listen to your body. It's okay to rest. Message received.
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