AN INVITATION TO REST
You are cordially invited to invest in your own rest...
Over the last few summers, we have invited you to join us in investing in rest. This year, we will be continuing this tradition and offering gentle encouragement to the community to care for yourselves. For August, we have cleared our professional learning calendar of workshops, Communities of Practice, and network meetings to leave intentional time and space for rest. In this, we turn our attention to ourselves and our needs - something we often forget to do in caregiving roles.
It's essential to recognize how self-care is directly linked to stress and burnout within the field of Early Childhood Education and Care. We encourage you to explore “The Realities of ECE Burnout” by Zuhal Hashemi, a powerful reflection on the emotional and systemic challenges facing our sector. In it, Hashemi shares a striking statistic: approximately 40% of childcare and education professionals report experiencing burnout. This serves as a reminder of just how critical it is to prioritize rest, wellness, and sustainable practices, not only for ourselves but for the future of the profession.
While we may understand that caring for ourselves is critical, it can often be difficult to know where to start. If you are just starting on this journey, or are redirecting your attention to it, we invite you to revisit our previous blogs - one outlining the 7 types of rest, found here, and one outlining ways to curate and create conditions of rest, found here. The information found there is not going to give all the answers, but perhaps, there will be something that resonates and inspires you in your journey. Small, intentional changes have the potential to grow into long-term change and sustainability for your wellness. *As you reflect, please remember to be patient with yourself, rest takes practice, and progress is not linear, especially when we’re not used to taking time for ourselves.
As a team of early years professionals, here are some of the ways we like to take time for rest:
Activities that support creative expression, processing, and mindfulness. For example, colouring, crafting, writing, and painting.
Moving our bodies with ‘slower’ activities such as yoga, walking, swimming at the beach, and strolling - even in stores or malls (especially Homesense - if you know, you know). Hey! Did you know that moving your body supports closing the stress response cycle and can lead to overall more restorative rest?
Grabbing a coffee or treat that we love, or even better, cooking or baking that thing we love!
Engaging in mindful practices and meditation
Listening to music we love, either to dance to or to calm down
Watching a movie or show that brings comfort
Spending quality time with family and friends
Getting outside! Parks, the beach, even yard work!
Escaping into a good book
And sometimes, curating space for rest means decluttering our mind and space so that during that rest time, we can feel at peace. This can look like intentionally planning to tidy a space and/or complete admin tasks to make space and conditions for rest.
We know that rest is not the solution to all of our problems, but it may very well be a large first step in the direction of caring for ourselves and prioritizing our wellness. Rest is not something you need to earn; you are entitled to it. So say yes to rest and stay connected with us this month as we discover and dig into how we rest.
If you are looking for resources to support you on your resting and self-care journey this month, Strive Online hosts previous wellness resources we have shared, and recorded professional learning sessions, to support you along the way! We also have episodes of Leading Inspired Learning, A Strive Podcast, where we dive into topics related to wellness. Some episodes of note are:
How are you planning to rest? Share below!
References
Hashemi, Z. (2024, Fall). The realities of ECE burnout. Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario.https://assets.nationbuilder.com/aeceo/pages/3083/attachments/original/1735332715/Zuhal_Hashemi_compressed.pdf?1735332715