Cathy Gassenheimer, Special to the Advertiser Published 4:16 p.m. CT May 28, 2020
Cathy Gassenheimer is the executive vice president with the Alabama Best Practices Center.(Photo: Contributed)
What are you doing to take care of yourself during the COVID-19 pandemic? Is self-care part of your coping strategy in these unprecedented times?
We all feel a need to stay in touch and in tune with others, particularly our loved ones. We miss our colleagues. Many of us are learning to work at home, and educators are very much feeling their responsibilities to students and parents. To boot, we are all developing a new appreciation for safely hunting and gathering food and other essentials.
So much to do. And yet, its alsoreally importantto devote some time to self-care.
After a particularly rough day, involving 5-6 zoom calls, I was exhausted and felt like a slug! And, while I had accomplished a good deal that day, my body didnt seem to feel that way.
I realized something had to change. Reflecting on options, I first decided that I needed to take advantage of where I am sheltering in place our lake cabin. I wanted to energize myself, focus on work, and also get my body moving a bit.
So I decided to take a 5-minute walk every hour, starting around 7:15 and ending at 4:00. My path involves walking up a steep driveway, back around the house, up a steep hill, and up to the backsteps. It just takes 5 minutes. Im outside, looking at the sky, the lake, and Im moving.
Its made all the difference in the world to my work days. I feel energized and productive! And, I treat myself at the end of the day by taking a two-mile leisurely stroll.
Of course, there are times that I have to skip an hour if Im on a Zoom call, or fudge a bit about the time, but Im getting between 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, and Im feeling better!
During one of our ABPC staff zoom calls, I described my self-care strategy and asked assistant director Stoney Beavers and program coordinator Dakota Punzel to share what they are doing.
From Stoney: For my self-care point, I would probably say that the best thing for me is getting outside in the morning and again in the afternoon. We are grilling out a lot and eating on the back porch. Im working more in the yard, and weve planted a small garden and a pollinator flower garden. I dedicate most of Saturday to yardwork, and then we have a lazy afternoon playing games or watching another Star Wars episode, which Mckinley has really gotten into lately. Other than that, I am trying to get in a daily workout and a walk with the family in the afternoon. If I have time after all animals are fed, I do a short morning meditationor guided breathing exercise.
And from Dakota: During the quarantine, I have taken measures to maintain a physically healthy lifestyle and it has maintained my mentalhealth as well. My wife and I are active and tend to go to the gym several times a week. Once the quarantine hit, we decided we were not going to allow the closures to disrupt that routine. We invested in a few pieces of equipment and built a very basic home gym to continue working out.
The regular exercise, combined with maintaining a healthy diet, has staved off a lot of anxiety and depression that we might have experienced otherwise. While this is focused on fitness, I do not believe that the physical activity was the most important aspect. It has been our continuation of our shared routine and the driving towards an achievable goal that has really helped keep us centered during the quarantine.
Cathy Gassenheimer is the executive vice president of the Alabama Best Practices Center in Montgomery. In partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education, ABPCfacilitates high-quality, professional learning for three different networks of educators: district and school leaders (Key Leaders Network), schools (Powerful Conversations Network), and school-based instructional coaches (Instructional Partners Network).
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While we take care of others, we need to take care of ourselves - Montgomery Advertiser
