Mending Our Cracks and Living Our Wellness

Parenting is unequivocally the most important factor influencing our children and creating a positive course for the future.  If parenting has a mirror image in the professional realm, it is teaching.  I believe that education, more than any other profession, dictates the direction of our future as a culture, as a country and as a species.  So if we truly believe that education is the most important profession we can perform in order to mold the guardians of the future, then why are we at best mediocre in taking care of the very people who teach?  This is not a finger pointing post about laws or unions.  It is not about debating government willingness to fund education or how policy might be failing our kids. This is more important than any of that. This is personal. This is about you and me taking the time to care for ourselves.  This is about Teacher-Wellness and putting our health; physical, mental and emotional, at the top of our to-do list and never wavering from regarding it as a priority.

In teaching, our craft is only as effective as the vessel delivering it.  A cracked jug cannot deliver as much water to the thirsty as a jug that is fully intact.  As such, if we truly believe that teaching is changing the future, it is imperative that the vessel (teacher) is able to be at its most effective. No cracks allowed. Wellness is not an option...it's a necessity. And yet, when we prioritize our goals we often neglect to put wellness at the top of the list.  Perhaps we think there is just no time for self-care, or perhaps we don't even know what it is that we need to do in order to nurture ourselves.  Wellness is about mending the existing cracks and taking measures to prevent new ones.  It is about knowing yourself well enough to know what you need in order to be as healthy as possible.  Take a moment right now to take inventory.  This is serious.  Teaching requires us to be fully functional, all cracks tended and mended.

I started out strong in this post because there is no part of me that wants to be misunderstood here.  Fact is, no one can help or hinder your wellness except you.  How are you making sure that you are taking care of all aspects of your health?  For me, every single thing I do, every endeavor I hope to achieve, every dream I chase, all of it...starts with me focused on taking care of myself.  I don't take elaborate vacations, spend tons of money at the spa or partake in any other type of self-care that takes me in a different direction from my passions.  I focus on my passions and fit my wellness into my current situation.

Take this blogging excursion for example.  For a long time it was on my mind to start writing in this manner. I knew it would be cathartic for me.  I gifted myself with a tablet for Christmas.  I mulled and questioned and deliberated. In the end, I realized that routine writing would be a lot of work but it would also serve a wellness purpose in me that I was not fulfilling in any other way.  Anyone who knows me knows that it is my nature to fully listen and to rarely talk.  In fact, the idea for this particular post's topic came as I actively listened to a conversation that I was "part of" but to which I was not verbally contributing.  In the conversation, one teacher explained to the group that she "has no wellness left".  My inner voice screamed about how I should speak up, offer advice, help her...but I didn't.  But here in my writing I am finding my voice in ways that are contributing to my wellness because I am sharing my thoughts as well as nurturing the part of me that genuinely cares for others.  After every post so far I have felt a sense of relief from the stress of my silence. That's an example of wellness fitting into something I love to do.

The path to individual wellness will be a unique journey to each of us.  Figuring it out takes time.  Wellness is not one or two adjustments. It is not relaxing on spring break or reading a book. It is a lifestyle that seeks to help create the best version of yourself.  It will not necessarily take any extra time and it does not need to cost a thing. It can fit right in to what you are doing, it should reinforce your passions and it will make you feel a sense of peace as it feeds your soul.  For today, let's commit together to mending our cracks and tending to our needs by making wellness a priority. Let us self-speak the words that are crucial to creating the best version of ourselves: "I will make wellness a priority!"