Switching off isn't a switch — here's where to start
It’s been a couple of weeks since the students fled the playground. All seems quiet, finally. Maybe you’ve dropped into school a time or two since the end of term as well, in an attempt to close things down for the real switch off to begin.
…but it’s not coming!
You’re still a bit wired and a bit jumpy.
Your phone goes off and you wonder who could possibly be emailing you now.
Your body may have left school but your brain is still linked and it feels like it would take a surgical knife to finally disconnect you from work.
Yet, that might leave you floating away, lost and unsure about how to fill your time. Perhaps, it is best to just keep working after all?
You are not alone.
The first thing to say is that this is normal.
Your brain has been focussed wholeheartedly on school for the past ten months or so, with little time to take a step back. It’s not surprising that switching off feels like an impossibility.
And this work is important to you. Switching off, even when you know it’s what’s best for you, can feel like too much of an ask.
And to top it off, when you do finally switch off, your brain feels rested, restored and starts popping out new and exciting ideas for September! So much for not thinking about school for six weeks…
So, how can you begin the process of switching off for the summer? Here are three possibilities.
1) Ground yourself in the moment
Yes, it’s corny and sounds like you’re on the edge of a yoga session. However, grounding yourself is basically getting you to focus on the here and now, not wherever your brain wants you to be in school.
When this happens, it can reduce mind-racing and feelings of overwhelm or anxiety. Although, in and of itself, this isn’t the “big switch off,” it does give your brain a period of rest, which can then ease into longer periods of time not thinking about school.
You could try:
A breathing exercise such as breathing in for four, holding your breath for seven and then breathing out for eight. The aim is to elongate your exhale as this is settling for your nervous system.
Noticing your five senses:
What are five things you can see?
What are four things you can hear?
What are three things you can feel?
What are two things you can smell?
What is one thing you can taste?
Where are your feet? I love this question in supervision sessions because it gets to the core of feeling grounded. Focus your attention on your feet and what it feels like to have your feet planted on the ground. If you’re thinking about your feet, you’re not thinking about school.
2) Get distracted and make plans
Despite the commonly held belief that school leaders are excellent multi-taskers and multi-thinkers, we’re all actually rubbish at doing this.
You’ll know this about yourself because you will have caught yourself sitting at your dining room table of an evening thinking you’re listening to your partner describing their day but actually you fell through a wormhole back into thinking about something that occurred in school that day.
Switching off from school inevitably means switching on to something else.
Often, the challenge that school leaders leave themselves with is not knowing what else there is outside of school to engage their busy minds. Something else must exist. Otherwise, school will happily invite itself back like an unwelcome guest who hasn’t got the hint to go home.
So, if you are like me and fear empty, aimless, unproductive days, make plans.
If you find yourself travelling back to school in your mind’s eye, find something else to do in the here and now. Read a book, do some gardening or head out to the cinema. Find something that engages you and takes you away from school.
3) Make a list
Despite our best efforts, sometimes switching off isn’t as all-or-nothing an experience as we’d like it to be. It’s inevitable that your mind will wander. It’s almost inevitable that school will crop up in your mind: it’s your job, it matters to you and you dedicate a lot of time and energy to it.
Rather than expressing frustration or disappointment with yourself that you couldn’t keep school out of your mind during your holiday, accept that it will occur.
When it occurs, have a plan in place to deal with the thought so that it doesn’t grow legs and rattle around in your head for the rest of your holiday, spawning further leggy thoughts as it goes.
You could make a note of the thought and then put it somewhere safe (genuinely safe, rather than the kind of safe place where you never see it again). This could be a notebook on your bedside table or a post-it note in your laptop bag.
On top of this, make a plan of when and how you will return to these thoughts.
Putting some time in your diary now for when you will start proactively turning your mind back to school gives these thoughts a safe space to live, gifting you the guilt-free freedom to switch off and leave school at school.
That’s what switching off is.
I have something for you
When you are ready to start thinking about school again, it’s nice to know that you won’t be alone.
Join my virtual co-working space on Wednesday 26th August 10-11:30am. You can sit at your own kitchen table with your own choice of brew, but connect and work with other school leaders and me.
A bit of company and a bit of accountability.
Before the end, I’ll also run a supervision-style activity that helps you to plot how you can sustain your energy levels throughout Autumn 1, without burning out by week three.
It’s all part of my Wellbeing Hub.