Teachers in Transition - Episode195 – Armor Up

In this episode, Vanessa talks about a few strategies for combatting teacher burnout,  why you might need to consider a bridge job to get through to the dream job, and she introduces a new segment about saving money and this week's tip is about DIY in the kitchen with spices!

Jenna Fisher’s Book, “The Actor’s Life” 

The Game of Thrones scene in Season 1 Episode 1 where Tyrion and Jon Meet the first time

Emotional Freedom Tapping – Learn how tapping works and see it in action

Webpage with DIY Breakfast Options 

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning: 

·        1 Tbsp chili powder

·        2 tsp ground cumin

·        1 tsp paprika, preferably smoked paprika

·        1 tsp fine sea salt

·        1 tsp ground black pepper

·        1/2 tsp garlic powder

·        1/2 tsp onion powder

·        1/2 tsp dried oregano

·        Pinch red pepper flakes, or cayenne for heat

Store in an airtight container.  This makes about 3 TBSN.  Make in bulk to really save time.  Two TBSN per one pound of ground meat. 

A link to our Facebook Page! Join us!

And remember to send your comments, stories, and random thoughts to me at TeachersinTransitionCoaching@gmail.com!  I look forward to reading them.  Would you like to hear a specific topic on the pod?  Send those questions to me and I’ll answer them. Feel free to connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn!

The transcript of this podcast can be found on the podcasts’ homepage at Buzzsprout. 

Transcript

Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. my name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, What tools do I need to find a new career?  Are my skills valuable outside the classroom?  How and where do I even get started?  These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them.  I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.  

***Hi!  And Welcome back to another episode of Teachers in Transition. I am your host, Vanessa Jackson – I’m a compassionate career transition and job search coach. I am here to help you reach your goals and figure out how to translate your teaching skills into skills for your next career. I provide tips and suggestions to help with stress and mental health, hacks to help your day, and job-hunting tips.  If you are frustrated with your current teaching position – you are burnt out and overwhelmed, I am here for you.  Today on the pod we are going to talk about how we armor up to deal with the rest of the year.  I’m introducing a new segment designed to find ways to save money. In our job hunting segment, we talk about dealing with a brutal job market, and why you might need to consider staying one more year or going to a bridge job. 

First things first, I want to apologize for dropping this a day late. I don’t know if it was the weather or what, but I was hit with exhaustion so intense that making breakfast required a nap.  I decided I should take my own advice from a couple of weeks ago about when your body tells you something and listen. I am sorry if I let you down because this wasn’t here to combat the Sunday Scaries.  

Today, We’re going to talk about some strategies for avoiding teacher burnout.  Get with me to the end here.  The six most common strategies to avoid burnout are: 

1.    Set boundaries between work and personal life 

2.    Find or start doing a hobby again 

3.    Workout regularly 

4.    Use your weekends for me time 

5.    Take Regular vacations. 

6.    Don’t work during your time off.  

 I hope you haven’t turned this off yet.  This list was CLEARLY written by someone who was not in a classroom and had no idea how teacher life works.  Let’s have a little fun blasting this to shreds, shall we?.  

Boundaries between work/life balance?  Puh-leeze – when parents email you at all hours of the day and expect answers in the middle of the night?  When admin wants something from your the day before yesterday that they didn’t tell you about until tomorrow? Side note: If time travel is ever invented, it will be a former teacher who does it!

Find a hobby?  Sure!  If your hobby is perhaps making sure your socks match.  Or taking a warm shower. Hobbies… unless it gets turned into a class project, most teachers won’t consider hobbies during the school year, and most of us are too tired in June.  

Workout Regularly – define workout…  chasing down a 5-year old heading for the front doors of freedom?  Exercising facial muscles by holding the mouth closed while you yawn at a faculty meeting? Slipping in a couple of squats in while picking up things left on the floor?  Don’t get me wrong, workouts are very IMPORTANT for mental and physical health, and this may be the most do-able of everything on this list, but without a clear strategy to implement it, it’s not helpful to just throw it out there.  Moving on 

Take Regular vacations.  When?!?  During holidays when everything is as expensive as it will EVER be?  In the summer between mandated professional developments for this or that?  And what can a teacher afford anymore?  I mean, State campgrounds are reasonable for primitive camping - and that’s probably the only way to get away from your phone but stuff is EXPENSIVE now.

Don’t work during your time off?  We’ve all tried that.  We’ve all failed at it. It has just made things worse because we were more behind than ever.  

Let’s try and turn this some useful ways to combat stress.  Because chances are, you’re not just sad and tired – you’re also angry about it. And after awhile, that gets exhausting.
 
 Here are my suggestions: 
 1. Hit things – combine this with housework – perhaps beating a rug.  A generally more fun version of this is a pillow fight, but that depends on your household. I have a heavy bag.   Do NOT hit things like walls, floors, trees, or other people.  

2. sing in the car/ or have a rage playlist – singing has been proven to lower stress.  Sing in the car to your favorite tune or perhaps some “you got this’ style anthems.  I suggest “Invincible” by Pat Benatar, Defying Gravity from Wicked, One Little Victory by Rush, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. by Aretha Franklin (or Think also by Aretha Franklin).  Songs that resonate with you and help you put on your armor for the day.  In fact, I am going to start a post in our Facebook group to come up with our collective playlist of songs that get us through our day.  Spoiler Alert – I don’t know every song ever written – I’d love to hear your suggestions. 

3. Make a Destination Postcard and look at it.  This can be done by using images from the internet.  Think of it like a vision board, but it’s a scene of something you want for you – maybe it’s you in your next career, maybe it’s the view you would have from a desert beach island, keep it handy where you can see and remind yourself that this current moment of chaos is fleeting.  It passes. 

4.  Try that tapping thing. – Emotional Freedom Tapping is rooted in the same philosophy behind the body meridians as established in Eastern medicine. It is quick and can be done on the fly.  I’ll put a link to a website that talks more about it and has some example videos if you want to try it.  I think this might have some validity because the tapping stimulates blood flow at the point where you tap and puts your focus in a different place. 

5.  Grow something – if you aren’t good at growing things, get an air fern or a little cactus.  If you have pets, make sure that what you grow isn’t toxic to your pets.  I am not known for my green thumb. Could be because I don’t have one.  I do, however, have an avocado tree.  Maybe it was cheating to purchase one that was already about 15 inches high from the nursery when we were replacing some landscaping, but I brought him home.  I’ve named him Stanley.  Stanley lives in a container pot on a plant dolly.  I put hmi out to get sun and rain, I make sure he gets watered weekly when we aren’t getting rain, and I feed the dirt an occasional banana peel.  It makes his leaves greener. At some point in the winter, we bring him in to guard against freezes.  I have one red ornament that I hang from a branch and I wrap a blue towel around the trunk to dissuade my dogs from digging, and got Charlie Brown-y living room for Christmas.  It gives me endless amounts joy to walk past my Stanley the Avocado tree, to watch him grow over time and know that I haven’t killed the plant yet.  It may never yield an avocado.  It occurs to me right now that I don’t even care.  He’s brought me a lot of happiness just by being there. And it costs me less than five minutes a week to keep him going.  And while, perhaps, I wouldn’t walk across fire for this plant, I would (and have!) run out when it starts to hail to save it.  

What might work well for you?  Is it one of these? It is something I didn’t think of here? I’d love to hear what you are up to.  
 
 

Now it’s time to move on to the job-hunting segment, and it’s a hard one. OK, the job economy stinks. People have to put in more applications to get fewer interviews and do more interviews than ever to maybe land the job.  

If money is critical in your life, which is most of us, than you might have to stay one more year while you continue to look for work. And on the face of it, that might be the most horrible thing I’ve ever suggested.  
 
 But there is a beautiful thing about knowing that you are going.  They can’t hurt you anymore.  So many of the threats in education are about how they will ruin your future life.  In education. Does that matter if they won’t be a part of it?  I can remember the day I sat and came to the realization that I was going to put one more year in to see if education deserved to keep me. I went through that year looking for reasons to put in another year. All I found were reasons why I had to go for my own sanity and self-worth. And once I knew I was going to go, those little verbal arrows didn’t hurt quite as much.  It took me forever to get around to watching Game of Thrones because I’m a big ol’ softie, and I was worried about how graphically violent it can be.  By the way, there are many parts of it I have heard and still have not actually seen because I squeeze my eyes shut. Bear with me because I want to make sure that this stays safe to listen to while you’re at work. In the first season there is a scene where Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow meet. Tyrion greets Jon by calling out his pejorative – the fact that his parents weren’t married. Jon is visibly upset by being addressed by a word that marks him as a product of unmarried parents. In fact, he’s not just upset – he’s mad.  Tyrion, a dwarf played to perfection by the amazing Peter Dinklage tells him to wear that like armor.  It’s clear that Tyrion has taken that advice to heart because you rarely *see* him bothered when people call him dwarf, imp, or half-man. He’ll often twist those comments that were meant to be an insult in such a way that they lose their power.   
 
 Another character that does this in another franchise is “Fat Amy” from Pitch Perfect.  She announces very forthrightly that she calls herself that so that others don’t do it behind her back. Let that pain become your armor as we roll into evaluation season, testing season and into the end of the year. It’s important to free up the space in your brain to look for the next job and what might have to happen to get you there. 

There’s this wonderful book by Jenna Fischer called An Actors Life. Jenna Fischer played Pam in the American version of The Office.  The book mixes memoirs of her life in Hollywood with the tips for dealing with the early struggles and rejections that she wishes she had had help with.  She talks a lot about the passion that is necessary to act and to go through that you need to go through to survive so you can act.  Very likely you once had that passion for teaching – maybe you still do.  But if it’s gone, it tells me that you have the CAPACITY to be passionate about something.  And once you find it, you can go after it with enthusiasm!  As I so often tell people “I am not a (fill in the blank – doctor, lawyer, rocket scientist), nor do I even play one on TV”  But I have never wanted to be an actor. Not a passion of mine.  I listened to this book as an audiobook, because as much as I love to read, I can’t sit still and do nothing BUT read. What struck me as I was listening to Jenna’s excellent delivery of her book is that you could apply a lot of that advice to your job hunt.  If you’re an Office fan, then you know how wonderful Jenna’s portrayal of Pam is.   You know, she almost didn’t get that part.  She had to find a show that was looking for the qualities she embodies.  Now, they’ll tell casting directors to go find a “Pam from the Office” type of girl. Your job is out there. It is. And things will probably get tough before you get there. But you WILL get there.  I promise. 
 
Those of us GenXers in the crowd remember Lynda Carter’s iconic portrayal of Wonder Woman.  As Lynda tells it – she had $10 left in her account when she found that she had landed the role of Wonder Woman.  She was so amazing in that role that the movie industry had trouble trying to bring Wonder Woman back to the screen – big or small.  Lynda Carter was so identified with the role that they were unable to cast anyone else until Gal Gadot donned the Amazonian armor in 2017’s movie.  And if you think back, we got nothing but complaints that Gal didn’t look like Lynda.   

But back to Jenna’s book.  Jenna has excellent advice on having what I would call a bridge job.  These are the jobs that you wouldn’t feel badly about walking away from when the dream job comes in - these jobs could include retail, server, and short-term contract jobs that you might find in contingent staffing. Remember, as a teacher, you have an enormous capacity for doing work extremely efficiently with focus, patience, and accuracy. You are unparalleled at dealing with clients and customers – you’ve been through worse. You’re probably also good at being on time, problem solving, and critical thinking. You are only limited by your imagination and what you can physically handle.  As you are running errands or heading to work in this upcoming week, look around and see what sorts of places you pass by – they all employ someone. Are those jobs you could consider for a bridge job?  A job job?  Just remember that they don’t always move quickly – even if it’s job they desperately need filled. 

Is this bridge job making the same pay as you would as a teacher?  Probably not.  Then again, don’t discount the fact that you need to heal from the years of systemic abuse you’ve been through.  The longer you’ve taught, the deeper that got rooted.  A job that doesn’t demand as much from you now will allow you to mend in your heart and soul.  And don’t discount how quickly you can rise through the ranks because you have these awesome skills at training people how to do things and mentoring others.  That’s valuable y’all!  I know this topic is a bit a downer, but although I am here to lift you up and help you, I am not here to lie to you.  

Which leads me to the next segment – it’s a new one that I am introducing that will switch in and out with the teacher hacks, and I’ll be sharing tips and hacks to help you save money. I feel right now with the economy being possibly worse for the working class than it was during the Depression era, money saving tips and hacks might be more welcome for a time being.  

 My dad liked to say that every dollar he didn’t spend was a $1.25 he didn’t have to make.  (Taxes… am I right?) He didn’t say this from a place of laziness – it was meant to underscore the fact that he would rather spend his money on things HE wanted rather than the mundane necessities of day-to-day life.  He was always looking for ways to save money. It became something of a game for him.  He was a hyper-miler before that was a word (Hyper-milers drive in such a way that that exceed the expected gas mileage. There is a lot of coasting involved). We didn’t send things out to be done that we could do ourself.  Fast forward to me fixing my own carpet cleaner this past weekend.  $35 in parts and two screwdrivers. Ta da!
 
 These days, much of my attempts to spend less come from the grocery store.  Today’s tip is to start thinking about doing things yourself. DIY, if you will. We’ve been conditioned and lured through excellent commercials to use convenient boxes or packets of things. 
 
 I make a lot of things from scratch.  It’s cheaper and I know exactly what went in there.  Many of my tips will involve those “from scratch” recipes, and it helps to have spices on hand.  We were planning tacos this weekend, and I was waffling about buying a cheap packet of taco seasoning. It was over $1.00!  I reasoned that I probably had all the spices in my pantry and to try it out to make my own.  Long story short – I did. It involved Chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano and a few red pepper flakes.  None of those are weird things, although you might not have red pepper flakes in the pantry. If you don’t currently have a wide variety of spices, start with these – you can get many spices in a dollar bin at Walmart – we loaded a shoebox up with these to send with my son to his first taste of living away from home.  I will share the taco seasoning recipe in the show notes. I actually increased the amounts and put away a few snack-sized ziplocs to use later.  Tacos are generally a very cost-efficient meal.  
 
 I buy chicken in large bulk packages and break them apart to put into different meals.  One container of breadcrumbs costs less than $2.00 and I throw in whatever spices I am feeling at the moment usually Cajun seasoning. That container makes the equivalent of 4 or 5 shake-n-bake boxes.
  
 There is a new site that has sprung up in the wake of general frustration about the cost of groceries and ignited after comments from a Kellogg’s CEO who suggested that cereal was a great option for a family who was struggling to buy groceries. I’m old enough to remember hearing the commercials say that cereal was PART of a balanced breakfast, but hey… maybe protein isn’t so necessary anymore? This has been likened to the old “they can’t afford bread?  Let them eat cake” idea that has been misattributed to Marie Antoinette representing how out-of-touch the French Monarchy was leading to the French Revolution and guillotines and well… you know.  Anyway, this site: let them eat cereal dot info is linked below.  It has a page to go and find ways to make your own versions of a lot of things like cereal, Cheezits, Poptarts.  I’m not sold yet on whether homemade Poptarts are cheaper when you factor in time, but they are a heck of a lot tastier.

So, I’ll continue to throw in a few money saving tips in upcoming weeks. I’d love to hear yours too!  Everything is more expensive, and that brings its own stress. But the podcast is always free. Please help me help other burned out and overwhelmed teachers by sharing this podcast with them. Your recommendations really help a podcast to grow, and I want to help as many teachers as possible. 

And continuing in that theme, join me on Facebook! The Teachers in Transition Podcast Club is a place where you are welcomed and wanted.  Come on over and make a song suggestion!  You can also ask me specific questions and I’m happy to answer. Just search for Teachers in Transition Podcast Club and it will come right up, but I also have a link in the show notes. 

If you are stuck in your job search, or are having trouble getting started, reach out to schedule a complimentary discovery call with me to see how I can help you pivot careers and find the job of your dreams. Meanwhile, armor up and let’s make it to the end of year with our bodies, minds, and souls intact. 

That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques.  And I want to hear from you!  Please reach out and leave me a message at Teacher in transition coaching at gmail dot com.  You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099. 

I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!