If you are a teacher who is not taking action due to fear and living in chaos, let me tell you - you are not alone. In this episode, I share a personal story about how my daughters had to switch schools just two weeks before the start of the school year and how this unexpected change brought up a lot of fear and anxiety—both for them and for me.
We dive into how fear of the unknown can paralyze us as educcators leading to procrastination, overactivity, and eventually burnout. We explore the different fears teachers face daily—from fear of failure to fear of losing their jobs—and how these fears create chaos in our lives. I also give my super simple 2-step plan to help you move from chaos to calm. It's literally so simple that I wish it were more difficult..
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Transcripts
[0:01] Back to school is a tough time, not only for teachers, but for students, too. And really, the inspiration for this episode came from my own kids. And so to give you a little bit of backstory here, my daughters both went to school in the school district that I taught at for their whole schooling. When I decided to go part-time as an instructional coach last year, I was a bit concerned that they might not be able to go to that district because we didn't technically live in it. But all year, we rolled around. They were thriving. They were able to go. It was great. Fast forward to two weeks before school started this school year, I got a call that the school needed to know where to send their records because we were out of district. And so long story short, their dad was moving. And so we were able to put them in the same district as my stepson. And that was great. They could all be in the same district together. other. But initially, I was really worried about my older daughter. She has a core group of friends.
[1:05] She's hung out with them a lot. They had classes together forever since they're all in GT. And I was like, she's very sensitive, but she seemed very excited. So I was like, okay, this is going to be awesome. First week comes and goes. And it really, it took a toll on her. My youngest daughter is in second grade, so it wasn't as difficult of a transition for her. She's also a lot more outgoing. She could literally talk to a wall. My older daughter is a lot more sensitive, a lot more quiet.
[1:37] She's just like to be transparent. It was just very, very tough to watch because doing something new with new people, that's intimidating. It's really scary. And so after we got to talking, I realized her sensitivity and her meltdowns, those all stemmed from fear. And I think a lot of students, but also teachers, deal with this fear. It stops us in our tracks. We don't take action because what if, right? It causes us this chaos and this heightened sense of arousal that leads to inactivity or procrastination or overactivity, and that all leads to burnout. And so maybe right now as a teacher, you haven't changed environments like my daughter's, but maybe that fear is still holding you back.
[2:27] Maybe it's the fear of failure, the fear of getting fired. That's one that I hear from a lot of teachers is that they're afraid to do something or not do something because they'll get fired. The fear of not being enough. That's another one that I hear from a lot of teachers too. The fear of the unknown, which is a lot of what Addie dealt with. But we deal with that as educators all the time because we can't control everything. We don't always know what's going to come next. We could have the worst class in the world, right, or the worst principal in the world. That's what our fears would have us believe. We could totally screw up a lesson or 12, and somehow our principal would find out, and they'd fire us, right?
[3:09] Addie's fear was that she wasn't going to make a group of friends like her old ones, that her old group would forget about her, that she would be an outcast in her new school, and she wouldn't know the answers to the questions that her teachers ask. And so these fears, they feel chaotic. We're sad. We're mad. We're exhausted. We're excited all at once, right? It's like we're caught up in a storm of emotions and that storm keeps us from moving forward because we're so bogged down with the fear and the whirlwind of emotions that we don't do anything. We're too overwhelmed, right? It seems like too much. Have you ever felt that way? Maybe you feel that way right now. I've felt that way, and I have walked myself through it. For Addie, she sat alone one day at recess instead of going over to new people and introducing herself, something that she knew she needed to do, but she was too afraid. For you, it might be that you are afraid to try a new teaching strategy that you learned about because what if it doesn't work? What if you fail? Or Or maybe it's that you don't leave a district or a school that doesn't jive with your personality because the fear of the unknown, right? But here's the thing.
[4:25] We do not have to stay stuck in chaos. We don't have to let fear control us. There's a way to move through that. And it starts with two very simple, very practical steps.
[4:39] And it's like, I wish this were more hard or I wish this were harder for people to do because then it'd be like, oh, okay. These are like so simple. The first thing is to name and claim your fear. I want you to take out a notebook, your notes app, something like that, and just spend five to 10 minutes writing down your fears, your anxiety, your uncertainties. You've got five to 10 minutes that you can do that. Maybe it's before bed one night. And so whether it's about a new school, a challenging student, something else entirely, there's always a reason that you're not taking the action that you need to or that you're You're taking too much action, right? So ask yourself these questions. What am I afraid of?
[5:32] Or what's the worst that could happen? That question right there gets me every time because I'll say to myself, I'm not afraid of anything, but then what's the worst that could happen? Like I got a few answers out of that one. Go ahead and rank your fears in order of how much they impact your daily life. That's going to help you in acknowledging which fears are the most pressing. What's the one that's really holding you back? And what do you need to let go of? Who or what are you committed to right now that you need to let go of? This is the part of getting out of the chaos that's really, really hard to do because you have to name it and it's not always what you want to hear. Fear like why are you not taking that action or why are you doing too much of an action? What are the things that you're saying yes to, that you're committed to, that are absolutely running you ragged?
[6:28] What are those things? What kind of routines have you gotten yourself into that maybe you need to say no to? Shoot, what kind of music are you listening to? What kind of books are you reading, because some of these things, as crazy as it sounds, can be putting fear into us, making us more susceptible to all of the chaos. The reason why this part works, why step one in this works, is because by putting fear into words, they become more tangible. It's less overwhelming because you're acknowledging them.
[7:03] In order to take back control, to reclaim that peace. I find myself doing this a lot, actually, because to think that you just won't live in fear or won't have chaos around you ever, that's gonna set you up to fail. This is a process that you have to get good at, that you have to become comfortable with, and a routine that needs to happen as often as you can so you don't feel like garbage, so that you can get in touch with who you are and what you want so that you can start taking more aligned action and finally bust out of the burnout cycle.
[7:39] The second step is to identify what you need to do and take small intentional actions. I know, I know, but this is truly the easier part because all you have to do is take Take some micro daily action. You just have to commit to one small little action each day that is addressing your fear and helping you reclaim your peace. This could be as simple as maybe it's organizing a desk or creating a specific batching schedule for your lessons or setting boundaries around work hours or work people, right? It's the small things that make the biggest impact. It doesn't have to be a laundry list of actions. You just want one small thing and to move. Like Addie didn't have to introduce herself to everyone on the playground. All she had to do was find one new person. And she did. And if you're anything like me, when I'm trying to do something I'm afraid to do, like truly afraid to do it, like exercise, I tell myself five minutes. Just give myself five minutes to do a task that I've been procrastinating on. and.
[8:50] Starting is usually the hardest part. Once you start, it's easier to continue. And I'll say this time and time again, but just taking a breath sometimes is all you need to do to help center yourself and to reduce that stress so that you can take that action.
[9:10] The reason why this works is because small, consistent actions, those are what lead to those big changes over time. If every day you found a dollar, you'd have $365 by the end of the year. By breaking down these tasks into more manageable steps, you can start to make that progress without feeling so overwhelmed, like you're changing everything. You're also telling your brain, true story, that it's possible to move through fear. But often, if you can't name your fear, then you don't know what action you truly need to take. So identifying your fear, naming it and claiming it, and then taking those small, consistent actions can shift you from that chaos to that calm. mom. For Addie, all it took was meeting one new friend and all her fears, they were alleviated. She didn't feel like an outcast. All it took was talking to her old friends to realize they're not going to replace her. Maybe for you, it's that you create one automation that reduces some redundant work you've been doing, but you're not letting that fear impact you. You don't let that fear or that it's different impact you, right?
