Self-Care for Music Educators

Balancing the scale of your life so you can stay a passionate and engaged teacher

Educators are notorious for putting themselves last. Those of us who have entered humanitarian fields go into it because we want to make a difference for others. We want to see changed lives and impacted hearts. Unfortunately, what often ends up happening is, we end up exhausted, worn out and lacking passion for why we entered the field in the first place. When we put ourselves last, we find ourselves incapable of making the impact we desire to make.

Have you noticed feeling unmotivated to choose the spring musical? At times, do the students you used to enjoy working with now grate on your nerves in a way they didn’t before? Do you find yourself living for the moments on the weekends or breaks when you can finally check completely out, but never feel refreshed when you have to begin working again? These may seem like these are just consequences of living life, some things you have to go through in order to make a living, but these are actually some of the signs you are on the road to burn out, or unfortunately, are already there.

Self-care doesn’t always have to be bubble baths and scented candles. I believe a more helpful way to think of it is more like intentionally living a balance that means we are doing things that are fulfilling as well as draining. Self-care empowers us to keep going, effectively serving those we love and care about. Think of one of those old decorative beam scales, one you might think of on a legal desk. If the side of your scale is loaded with everything that is in service for others, you are going to have to spend a ton of energy holding up the other side of the scale. If we are living a life of balance, the scale doesn’t take work or effort to keep equal and stay in equilibrium.

If you desire to gain more balance to your scale, picture things that give you energy or give you rest. If it gives you rest to do bubble baths and light candles, you should do that to balance your scale. Sometimes though it can be things that lighten your load like hiring a housekeeper with money you can make offering private lessons. It can even be stuff that doesn’t necessarily look like lightening your load. One thing I’ve placed on my self-care list is getting laundry done by Sunday night. If my family does not have to look all week for clean clothes or search in baskets for their clean socks every morning, my scale feels more balanced. I would guess that a whole lot of people reading this would put on their list, attending or participating in live music. If you are a music educator, when was the last time you participated in music that feeds YOUR soul?

Other ideas of self-care include:

• Taking your dog for a walk
• Going grocery shopping for foods that entice your senses
• Taking a shower and paying attention to the fall of the water down your back or the smell of the soap you enjoy
• Drinking tea that boosts your energy, soothes your soul or helps you breathe deeply
• Using a weighted blanket (which can trigger the same hormones as a hug, to help you sleep)
• Attending personal therapy to process your experiences and unload some of the pressures you carry (ideas for low-cost therapy can include googling therapists offering discounts for educators or contacting a local college that trains counselors and may offer low-cost sessions)
• Find yoga videos on YouTube to do before/after school
• Using an app that can assist with deep breathing or guided meditation
• Prioritize sleep and good sleep hygiene
• Schedule your worry time and practice shutting your worries in the room where you made space for your worries
• Ask a family member or a friend to sit and have a face-to-face meal together, without distractions
• Limit news or social media that trigger stress hormones, flooding your body
• Purchase tickets to see your favorite performance, then consider that block of time sacred
• Journal your thoughts in a notebook that you feel inspiration from

The list of possibilities can go on and on. The first step you take in self-care can be allowing yourself time to think in order to begin your list. The end result can be 100 items deep, or can consist of a couple mighty options. The important thing is that you make your self-care yours.

Think back to the last time you were on an airplane or watched a movie based in the air. In the beginning of the flight, when the flight attendant gives instructions on what to do in-case of the loss of cabin pressure, who do they instruct to put an oxygen mask on first? The adult. The caretaker. The person in charge of caring for others. If you are on an airplane with your students, going on a trip to perform and the cabin pressure is lost, you MUST have YOUR oxygen mask on in order to not pass out before your students do. If you do so when there isn’t enough oxygen in the cabin of the plane, you can save lives.

Education has been in crisis for a long time and educators have been the ones keeping the children from passing out. We are in the middle of the third school year of a global pandemic during political turmoil and psychological stress that has caused our personal and professional lives struggling to function in a perpetual state of crisis. Do you find your energy is spent trying to balance your tipped scale? Do you have your oxygen mask of self-care on? If not, I implore you to put it on now, for your sake and for the sake of those you love and the students you serve.