Greetings MDECOE community,
Self-care could not be more important during this time of unease. The most important thing is that all of you, as well as your students and clients, remain safe and take good care of yourselves. As we continue with the uncertainty of our health and the health of our loved ones, and the ever changing landscape and timeline of this surreal pandemic, this ongoing stress can take a physical and psychological toll on us. I am calling this viral battle fatigue. I wonder if you are starting to feel this periodic exhaustion. It’s normal if you feeling this way. It’s your body and emotions telling you to take a break and take care of yourself. Below are some self-care resources for you to check out to stay balanced and to renew when you are feeling depleted or worried. Thank you for the great work that you continue to do knowing that this is not an easy time for anyone. And thanks to our COE colleagues who contributed these self-care resources below! Please share with us other self-care resources as you discover these!
1) Managing anxiety and stress. Mark Stevens shared links to:
a) a 17-minute video entitled Five Steps to Handling Anxiety in the Era of Coronavirus by Dr. Jeff Zeig
b) an article entitled Your Physical Distancing Mental Health Tool Kit for Managing the Impact of the Novel Coronavirus
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2) Managing working at home with young children. Wendy Murawski shared her article entitled “Stay-at-home students and working parents: Strategies for staying sane.”
https://inservice.ascd.org/strategies-for-staying-sane-while-staying-home/
As Wendy writes in the article:
“Social distancing. Stay-in ordinances. Home schooling. Experiences many of us never thought we would be living at the beginning of 2020. Now, the “new normal,” at least for the near future, involves students of all ages at home all day and parents trying to move their work to a purely online, virtual format. Managing the stress of changing formats would be enough, but trying to do it while entertaining a kindergartener or overseeing a high schooler’s online activities can ramp up anyone’s stress level!”
3) Inspiring words for challenging times. Josh Einhorn shared the following words of wisdom from K-Rahn Vallantine (https://liveabovethehype.com/)
“During this challenging time, many of our previous approaches to “the work” are now being called to evolve. We can no longer rely on our old ways of doing things. Our future calls for a new pattern of thought and approach to addressing the community challenges we seek to weaken. I’m told that Albert Einstein once stated, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Embracing the unknown can be scary and risky. Sometimes it may feel like we are barely built for the challenge and all we can do is stumble our way through. But still we keep moving forward. When properly embraced, the unknown is where growth takes place. This is where new visions are developed. This is often the dimension where our own personal greatness and next level up is hiding.
This time calls for us to radically shift and do things much differently than we have ever done before. In the face of adversity, there is often a complexion of opportunity. It is our responsibility to discover it. We know fear and doubt is contagious, but so is faith and inspiration. Remember, the Sun continues to shine and bear light even though it is surrounded by the darkness of the Universe. Let’s not let the darkness around us block the great shine within us!”
For more inspiration and resources, please continue to look at our self-care website for other great resources at
https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/self-care/articles-information-self-care
We hope you all are well, and staying safe and sound.
Warmly,
Shari and Josh