Description: This week, we visit level one of Maslow's hierarchy with a pretty simple, yet sometimes very challenging, nudge from Dr. Boogren.
Resources:
1. Review episode twenty-six from season one, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go! below.
2. Share how this initiative has impacted you on the Facebook page!
Listen Now:
Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode nine of season two of Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This week's invitation is to go to bed. Well, doesn't that feel nice? This has to do with sleep and our level one needs. Really, what this is about though is just giving ourselves permission to go to bed. I don't know why this is so hard for me. I will just speak for myself. Like, I'll be really tired, but I'll look at the clock and I'll be like, well, I couldn't possibly go to bed right now. It is like 7:30. And, my husband will always jump in and say, if you are tired, go to bed. Listen to your body. And so, this is, is super small. Just again, permission, nudge, if you will, to just go to, to just go to bed, if you can.
I know, there's a gazillion reasons why this can be hard and, you know, we might feel an overwhelming need to go to bed at one o'clock in the afternoon when we're still teaching ... It doesn't always work, but here's ... This is what I'm thinking in particular, when we're sitting on the couch, and we're in that zombie-like state where we're either watching a show or we're scrolling and we're playing a game on our phone, and we know we would feel better if we went to bed, but we've reached that place of decision fatigue. Sit there. I want you to maybe 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Go! Remember our little nudge. If we count backwards from five, by the time we get to go and we move, we can do the thing we need to do and just go to bed.
Sleep is so stinking important. We know this; I mean, it's a level one need. We know if we don't get enough sleep, it impacts so many other areas of our life. And so, I want us to kind of double down on that, and it starts with just going to bed, giving yourself permission to just go to bed. Putting your jammies on early. I don't care what time it is. Washing your face. Sometimes we don't want to go to bed, because it's all the other stupid things that we have to do to get into bed. So, washing your face early. Brushing your teeth right when you get done with dinner. Putting the jammies on early, which is ... putting a signal, sending a signal to your body that we are starting to get ready for bed like you do with your children. Right?
We have this whole bedtime routine where we're amping up getting ... Well, no ... amping down? Right? Powering down where we are getting all of those routines in place to really think about moving towards bed. If we do the same for ourselves ... So, maybe switching up your evening routine, maybe instead of watching TV, you're going to pick up a book. I always fall asleep when I'm reading. I love to read. We just talked about that two episodes ago. But, it also does help put me to sleep much more so than watching TV. Right? Looking at a screen, the blue light, all of that.
So, I want you to just give yourself permission to go to bed. Maybe it's a Saturday night, and you feel like you should stay up, because you can stay up. But, instead you're going to say, Oh, I'm just going to go to bed. Maybe you need a nap on Sunday, but you feel guilty about it. We're going to remove the guilt, and you're going to just go to bed for a little while. Maybe it's Monday night, and you are exhausted, and you look at the clock and it's 7:45, and you think, I can't possibly go to bed right now. I want you to try going to bed right now and just see if that little nudge of just reminding yourself it's okay to take care of yourself by starting with sleep and see if that makes you feel any better.
See if it helps you get a better night's sleep. See if the next day you feel better. See, just see what happens. Just see what happens. That's what really these invitations each week are about is to just try it and see what happens. What's the worst that could happen? Right? And, I know this is hard. A lot of people ... We all have different situations at home. So maybe, it's a conversation with a partner about, I need to go to bed. Can you help do this tonight? And then, I'll return the favor for you tomorrow. Or maybe, it's not that you can't ... You can't do this during the week, because your schedule and family ... It's too crazy, but maybe you can give yourself permission on Friday night to do this.
Just that idea of allowing yourself to listen to your body. And, when you're tired to go to bed. Jump on over to the Facebook group. Let us know if you try this. Let us know. Does it work for you? Does it not work for you? Where are you getting stuck? How can we help? And, I hope that this helps you feel more rested and as a result of that, feel more energized, as well, this week.
Huge thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Huge thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this job I get to do and for supporting the Squad so beautifully. And, as always a huge thank you to you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Goodness. I'm so grateful for you. I thank you again and again, for showing up for being here for doing the work for yourself, for your families, for your students. You inspire me and amaze me every single day. My goodness. I'm grateful for you.
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