Take Advantage of Opportunities to Engage in Self-Care

I teach on a 15-week semester schedule so I typically use the Intercessions (Summer and Winter) to focus on professional development and course prep. Even though I use this time productively, that CERTAINLY does not mean that I don't get an adequate amount of rest and play. In today's blog post I am going to share an activity with you that brings both rest and play together for the ultimate Self-Care Activity!

This activity comes from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning and is called The Self-Care Menu Activity. This is an activity where you compile a personalized menu of self-care strategies to help you assess how much self-care you’re actually engaging in, and to give you shortcuts during stressful times to your own best practices. First you brainstorm at least 50 things that bring you pleasure, joy, energy, comfort, peace, calm etc. Then you prioritize the items based on which activity has the most impact on you and which are the easiest to accomplish. Finally, you move on to creating your your personalized menu of self-care strategies based on preventative activities (actions that will help prevent stress/distress) and responsive activities (actions to alleviate stress/distress).

I think this is an EXCELLENT activity to do and keep as a resource for times when you most need it and to even set a schedule for yourself at the beginning of the week and pick from your menu of self-care activities to engage in that week. You can even use an activity like this with your students!

Complete this Self-Care Activity and let us know in The Online Educator Facebook Group what you think about this activity by clicking the link HERE. A big KUDOS to the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning for coming up with such an innovative activity!

Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.