Supporting Teachers through Stress Management & Positive Self-Talk
Blog
In a normal school day, you not only teach…
- but you also manage behavior, plan lessons, assess learning, counsel students, carry out first aid, reply to a long list of emails, write reports, tidy classrooms, create resources, mark books and create displays.
The list is endless. You feel overwhelmed, overworked, and easily trapped in negative thinking which in turn makes everything worse.
The good news is that there is help, and that is right inside of YOU!
Positive Self-Talk
Positive Self-talk is the most practical way to deal with stress. Self-talk can be positive (“I am able to do this” or “Things will work out for the best”), or negative (“I’ll never make it” or “This is impossible”). We all talk to ourselves; sometimes we talk out loud but usually, we keep self-talk in our heads. We must pay attention to the messages that we are generating in our own minds. Let us realize that we have the power to turn things around if only we change the way we talk to ourselves. Negative self-talk increases stress. Positive self-talk helps us calm down and control stress. With practice, we all can learn to turn negative thoughts into positive ones.
Some examples are:
| NEGATIVE
“I can’t do this” “Everything is going wrong” “This is too difficult” “I hate it when this happens” |
POSITIVE
“I will do the best I can” “I can handle this if I take one step at a time” “I am able to learn new ways little by little” “I know how to deal with this; I’ve done it before” |
Having trouble getting started?
Try positive statements such as these:
-
- “I’ve got this.”
- “I won’t let this problem get me down.”
- “Things could be worse.”
- “I’m human, and we all make mistakes.”
- “Someday I’ll laugh about this.”
- “I can deal with this situation.”
Remember: Positive self-talk helps you relieve stress and deal with the situations that cause you stress. To help you feel better, practice positive self-talk every day — in the car, at your desk, before you go to bed or whenever you notice negative thoughts.
Take the time to take good care of yourself and let me know how you feel!
Love and Light to you,
Veronica Vidal, Master Yoga Instructor and Life Coach