Balance Between Burnout and Self-Care

The definition for sustainable self-care is the individual process of attending to and awareness of one’s basic physical and psychological needs as well as an awareness of the routines, relationships, and environments needed for optimal functioning (Cook, Cottone & Guyker, 2018). Self-care is not an excuse to exit or disengage in the process of addressing the educational needs for students in trying times. Instead, the educational community must still persevere even within the daily grind. Sustainable selfcare should support educators’ rejuvenation to continue in the work. The figure below (Figure 1) represents a model of self-care that balances the preservation of self and the work of an educator. It may look different for each person, but the model is a guide to help reflect on the process.

Figure 1: Sustainable Self-Care Model

 While burnout is well known and researched. Idleness, while not discussed often, is just as detrimental as burnout. The absence of productivity produces idleness (O’Connor, 2013) not to be confused with rest or rejuvenation. This is, indeed, an action to preserve cognitive, social/emotional, and psychological functioning. “Rest is indeed not idleness, nor is it a wasted opportunity for productivity” (ImmordinoYang, Christodoulou, & Singh, 2012, p. 360).

 Idleness and ex burnout can be two sides of the same coin. Idleness can be caused by fatigue or exhaustion. When an educator burns out due to an overabundance of stress, the result can be that state of inaction. Idleness can be seen in educators who have lost their purpose and effectiveness but are still responsible for children and the community. Or it can be seen in educators who are not present and choose to be inactive, physically, psychologically, or emotionally. In either case, burnout or idleness renders the educator ineffective to the population they serve. The goal is to stay balanced because to tip to one side or the other, diminishes the ability to be productive and influence students. The sustainable self-care model shows that in the middle of those two extremes educators are of optimal effectiveness. In the middle, school and classroom leaders have effectively learned to balance rest and rejuvenation with positive stresses. The mechanism to do this is shown in the fulcrum of the model. Sustainable self-care is searning to tune into your mental, physical, and psychological self while utilizing strategies to support the part of self that is being depleted.