Let's Talk About Stress, Baby

The unprecedented demands and expectations in teacher life right now has put even the most well intentioned educator on the path to burnout and illness. The unrealistic expectations that teachers should have to devote their whole selves and their whole lives to be effective is precisely what drives stress, overwhelm and eventually burnout. Never-mind, the internal pressure to succeed can push us over the edge.

Stress can impact the achievement of a fulfilled life at best. It can ruin teaching careers and fuel some of the biggest health problems of our time including diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune diseases - at its worst. 

As teachers we can no longer accept this as part of the job or as something we have to ‘suck up’. 

What are Stress Centres for Today’s Educator? 

Stress Centres in teacher life right now runs the gamut from; 

• Unsupportive admin
• Demanding or critical Parents
• Teaching in a pandemic - essentially a front line worker with out the window signs and billboards for validation
• Increasing demands
• Constant changes with no opportunity to recalibrate
• Teaching online and Zoom fatigue
• Teaching when your health is at risk
• Being infected with a virus or supporting a family member who is ill
• Real and perceived threats to safety and wellbeing
• Etc. 

Not to mention, the hidden stress we all have from our early programming; the conditioning and patterns that run so deep it feels like our true self (ex.Perfectionism, people pleasing, the inner critic, shame, self-doubt, over-functioning, hyper-vigilance, the list goes on.) 

Defining Stress

Stress is the way the body responds to triggering events in our lives. It is the internal alteration that occurs with a perceived threat to our existence or wellbeing. Stress is a complex force of physical and chemical responses that powerful emotional stimuli when the nervous system is agitated by too many demands. Excessive stress occurs when the demands made on a person exceed one's reasonable capacity to fulfill them. 

To effectively manage or deal with stress we need to understand how it works. There are 3 phases of a stress response: 

1. The event (the stressor)
2. How the brain processes the stressor (related to personal history)
3. Stress response - the physiological and behavioural adjustments made as a reaction to the perceived threat

Understanding the 3 phases of a stress response is so important because it is where most people disempower themselves. 

The Number one Mistake that’s Keeping Teachers Stuck in Stress...

Typically we want to change, control or modify the stressor. We worry as an attempt to prepare ourselves for an outcome. We are hypervigilant and try to predict and prepare for all possible outcomes. We attempt to manipulate outcomes to keep ourselves safe and secure. The internal pressure to succeed can push us over the edge. Each is a huge waste of valuable mental and emotional energy and time. Current literature points out that helplessness, real or perceived, as an influential trigger for a stress response. 

Stress is unavoidable and in truth, some stress is actually needed for our bodies, minds to remain healthy, striving and strong. 

However stress and rest MUST work together. When we experience too much stress and not enough rest, problems arise. 

What Happens in the Body when we’re Stressed?

There is no doubt that teachers are overstressed. In high stress responses the nervous system releases hormones like adrenaline that speed up our heart rate, respiration rate and cortisol which activates our immune system and liver functioning. The Sympathetic Nervous System diverts blood and nutrients from digestive organs  and reasoning centres of our brain to our muscles preparing us for fight or flight. 

The neurotransmitters most involved in mood, thinking, behaviour are Dopamine, Serotonin, and Norepinephrine.  Dopamine is responsible for survival and motivation. Serotonin is the zen hormone. We need more of this when we are stressed, anxious or depressed. Norepinephrine is the anxiety hormone, adrenaline, fight or flight, acute threat. Our’s body’s unique and natural cocktail of neurotransmitters also impacts our stress response. 

Our body responds the same way to being in physical danger as it does to emotional threats or our way we view our life. The threat in an educator’s reality is no longer the sabre tooth tiger but the angry parent, the report cards due on Monday or pending observation with impact on our livelihood. And we are faced with them CONSTANTLY - all triggering the nervous system.

The beautiful thing about burnout is that it’s a wakeup call 

Burnout is an opportunity for us to question: how have I been living in a way that is not sustainable?

In living a balanced life, are you willing to prioritize your mental and emotional wellbeing?

We can empower ourselves with choices when we stop trying to control the stressor and instead do 2 things: 

1. Work with how we process the stressor
2. Learn to regulate our stress response

True empowerment rests in how the brain processes the stressor. It is in where we place our focus. Our power rests in the narrative we tell ourselves about the stressor. And power rests in how we regulate our physiological response. 

To change our relationship to stress these days teachers must change the way they relate to the stress centres in teacher life at the moment. They must repair and reprogram the stress response.

5 Changes you can make right now to Regulate and Manage Stress 

1. A Mindset Shift

Contemplate “What would need to shift in me to change the way I relate to the stress centres in my life right now?”

2. Befriend your Nervous System

The Parasympathetic Nervous System complements the Sympathetic Nervous System. And like the gas pedal and the break in our cars, they can’t function at the same time. We can activate our rest response. Through stimulating the internal organs, primarily the vagus nerve, heart rate slows, blood pressure drops. We relax, tears may come. We can think clearly. We rebuild and recover our health. Breathing and thinking are how we turn off the fight or flight system and activate the rest and digest system. The breath is slow, deep, and even. Our thinking is calm and positive.  

3. Regulate Stress Hormones Naturally 

Increase the things that give us dopamine like nutritious food, water, sex, nurturing (compassion and healthy relationships). When we are in survival mode we need - physical touch, kind words. Increase Serotonin, the zen hormone with hugs, warm baths, orgasms, long walks, sunshine and self-care. Things like healthy eating, meditation make more serotonin messages in the brain. Expel the anxiety hormone, norepinephrine and adrenaline through activity and physically moving the body. 

4. Develop Emotional Awareness 

This is a process of feeling our emotions and becoming aware of when we are feeling stressed. Express emotions, assert our needs and maintain boundaries. Discern between what is a current stressor or what is being triggered from the past. Accept that our emotional needs require validation, soothing, nurturing rather than repression for the sake of gaining approval of others. 

5. Access Self-compassion 

Recognize the feeling you are experiencing (how do you know when you are anxious, how do you know when you are depressed?). Allow yourself to feel the feeling. Relate to the feeling in a warm, nurturing and tender way. Move into acceptance of the feelings, sit with them instead of trying to argue with why it shouldn’t be there in the first place.  

Most Efficient Ways to Diffuse Stress

1. Physical activity - dance, walk, zoomba, yoga, running 
2. Breathing - regulate the nervous system with 1-2 minutes of deep belly breaths. 
3. Positive social interaction - laugh, look into eyes, hug and listen, create a deeper connection with others. 
4. Cry! Allowing the emotion to go all the way to the end. Turn towards the physical experience of crying, the sensation of heat, the water, the snot, not feeding it more thoughts about the cause of the stress but feelings in your body. Feeling it all the way through only takes a few moments. 
5. Create - take something difficult and put it outside of yourself. 

And a pep talk! 

Our human experience right now is unprecedented. Stop waiting for the stressor to change. What is needed is to reconnect to our own empowerment. It’s time to take charge here. There are so many things that FEEL outside of our control...there ARE so many things outside of our control…

What if you decide to look at the ways you DO have control so you can take our power back? Not having control and not feeling powerful transmits a sense of danger in our brains. We can take back control over that. 

We have so much power and control over our internal state and relationship with ourselves. When we make our internal state a priority, everything on the outside feels easier. By accepting ourselves, our state, our current life circumstances we can move into acceptance. Acceptance allows us to empower ourselves with choice. 

It's simple but it's not easy. If you are ready to invest in regulating your stress and healing your burnout once and for all, The Burnout Prevention Formula might be right for you. CLICK HERE to find out more!