In this blog, teacher and Solution Focused Hypnotherapist Emma (Inspired To Change Medway) talks about what it feels like to feel “teacher tired” – drawing on both her personal journey and her experience supporting her clients. She also shares some simple, practical ways for teachers to protect their wellbeing, reduce stress and help prevent burnout.
Are you Constantly Feeling Teacher Tired?
Nobody understands teacher tired until you become a teacher.
I get it. It’s the end of term and every ounce of you is drained – physically, mentally and emotionally. If one more job, email or change to the usual routine gets thrown at you, it could be just enough to tip you over the edge. You tell yourself that it’s OK because the holidays are coming, so you keep going.
But then, on that first day of the holiday (that you may well be working), you wake up with a pounding head and a scratchy throat, and you realise that the virus that had been going round school the week before has finally caught up with you. Now your break from school has become a frantic “let’s get better and recover before the start of term”.
How do I know this familiar feeling? Because I am both a teacher and a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist. A few years ago, I experienced these emotions and feelings myself when anxiety completely took over.
If you’re currently feeling this way, here are a few solution-focused tips that can help you look after your wellbeing and reduce stress.
1. Make Sure There Are Times When You Put Yourself First
As teachers, a big part of why we do this job is because we love teaching. But when your job takes over and you start putting it before your health, friends and family, that’s a sign it’s time to reassess your priorities.
Putting your wellbeing first doesn’t make you a bad teacher. If anything, it makes you an even better one.
Find what you love doing at the weekends (as well as in the school holidays) and make sure you do it. Perhaps it’s going for a walk by the beach or heading out to see friends. By doing these things, we get our positive, feel-good neurotransmitters flowing, which are so important for our motivation, happiness and focus.
2. Focus on What Has Gone Well Each Day
It’s so easy to focus on what didn’t go so well and then feel guilty about it. Because our primitive brains are designed this way, we can easily fall into this habit, which can affect our confidence and leave us feeling low and anxious.
So how do we start focusing on what went well?
By writing down “What’s Been Good?” at the end of the day. Even on the toughest days, there will be something positive. The more you do this, the more your brain starts looking for those good moments. It’s called confirmation bias, and it can become a powerful habit for improving your mindset.
3. Prioritise Your Sleep
Sleep is so important and when we find ourselves working late into the evening it can become fuel for anxiety. When we go to bed each night, our brains process the events of the day. As a teacher, there are many events to process. When we don’t prioritise sleep, those experiences don’t get processed properly and instead build up in our metaphorical stress bucket.
You can also download a free guided relaxation on any of the hypnotherapist’s pages here on the Inspired To Change website. Listening to one of these each night before you go to sleep will help to regulate your sleep pattern, give your mind the opportunity to switch off and process the stressors of the day.
4. Step Away from Teacher Social Media Groups
All of these groups link work to your personal device. I used to follow teacher groups until I realised they actually made me feel more stressed because, more often than not, someone was venting about work.
And I say “mute your teacher WhatsApp group” with love. Even if the group is friendly, every notification puts your brain back into school mode when you’re meant to be switching off. When it’s the right time for you, you can check the messages – or simply wait until you’re back at school. It’s about finding the balance that works for you.
5. Ask for Help
It can feel really daunting to ask for help.
Try to identify someone at school you feel comfortable talking to so you can build a support system where you help each other constructively. When support feels constructive, it helps your brain shift the situation from feeling like a threat to becoming a challenge that can be managed and overcome.
How Can Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Help with Teacher Burnout?
If you’re reading this and thinking, “This all sounds great, but there’s no way I could actually do it,” then it may be worth considering Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.
Rather than dwelling on what’s gone wrong, Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps you focus on where you want to be and the small, achievable steps that can help you get there. It combines practical, solution-focused conversations with relaxing hypnosis to help reduce the effects of stress, calm an overactive mind and encourage healthier thinking patterns.
When we’re overwhelmed, our stress bucket can become full, making it harder to think clearly, sleep well or cope with everyday challenges. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps lower those stress levels over time, allowing you to feel calmer, more resilient and better able to respond to the pressures of teaching.
Many teachers recovering from teacher burnout find they begin sleeping more deeply, worrying less, feeling more in control and rediscovering the confidence and enjoyment that led them into teaching in the first place. You don’t have to wait until teacher burnout takes over completely before getting support.
For me, as a teacher who experienced teacher burnout firsthand, Solution Focused Hypnotherapy was genuinely life-changing
For more on managing stress and preventing burnout, Mind has helpful guidance on stress.
About the Author
Emma Bancroft practices as Inspired To Change Medway whilst still works as a teacher (a happy one!). She decided to train in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy after experiencing its life-changing benefits firsthand. Emma now runs her own practice two days a week, supporting clients with stress and anxiety, while continuing to teach three days a week.
