Teacher Burnout: The Importance of Rest

Being the hardworking, perfectionist student that I am, I have suffered burnout one too many times. It normally hits me the worst at the end of the winter semester, just before Christmas. I think that the combination of end of semester exams, the freezing cold, the rain, the dark mornings and nights, and long days of lectures just completely exhausts me. Burnout has become so usual for me that I brace myself every winter for the overwhelming, unforgiving fatigue. However, no burnout that I’ve ever experienced in the past could have prepared me for teacher burnout. 

Now that I have my own classes, I have come to realise just how much energy they take out of me. It’s like they suck the life out of me some days, and even when they do behave and we get lots of work done, just having to be a responsible adult is simply exhausting. Not only are we juggling ten million things at once as teachers, but we are also juggling multiple lives at the same time. For me, this means being a teacher, a student, and a human being all at once. Whilst I love all three of these roles, it came as a shock to the system when I had to learn how to actively fit in everything that I was obliged to do on a daily or weekly basis. I felt constantly like I was running a marathon just to keep up with things and I was getting more and more tired as I simply had no time to fit in the things that I enjoy doing or even those extra hours of sleep on a Sunday morning. 

It got to the point where something had to give. I had reached breaking point and this time it was different: normally, at the height of a burnout, the only person I am responsible for is myself and what I am physically able to do. This usually means that I stop revising and doing homework and that I do the bare minimum to attend lectures and pay attention. However, now that I am a teacher, I am also responsible for whole classes of children which means that I cannot just stop doing things. Of course, I can stop going the extra mile and making sure my tests look pretty or guillotining every worksheet to perfection, but I can’t just not prepare my lessons or not go to school. Suddenly, everything that everyone had been saying about making sure to take time to rest, even if it meant not going full force on something else, made sense. I had tried to ignore my own personal needs by putting my obligations top of my priority list when really it should’ve been the other way round. 

Being a teacher is really overwhelming a lot of the time and there are so many things that you have to deal with whilst remaining calm and respectful. I love being in front of pupils, but the job can suck you in to the point where you feel like you constantly need to do more and be more in order to be better or for things to be easier for you. Sometimes, extra work and a bit more thought about certain things can absolutely make a huge difference, but most of the time, the result you get is the same, regardless of whether you spent ten minutes on it or two weeks. I definitely wish that I had started programming in blocks of time every day to rest from the beginning of my teaching career; now that my work/life balance is healthier, everything seems more manageable. I’ve also learnt that ‘rest’ can take many forms, such as sleeping, watching Netflix, seeing a friend, going sales shopping, baking a cake, reading a book, or even scrolling on TikTok. Yes, in my opinion, social media can also count as a break when you just need some time to switch off! 

Teaching is a profession in which staff are already underpaid, under supported, and over worked, with a future that looks less than hopeful. It’s important to not make it any harder for ourselves by working ourselves to the bone just to end up burning out and having to take time off work. It’s vital to find something that you enjoy doing, or to continue doing something that you enjoy, alongside teaching in order to let your brain rest and to keep spirits high. My personal cut-off point is 9pm- after that, it’s fun activities only!