Building resilience to survive challenging times
Five months into the pandemic when Covid-19 infection numbers are still on rise, life is anything but normal and uncertainty is looming like thick clouds over our heads; many out there have reached a snapping point!
It was in this context that 260 teachers of one of the reputed school chains, Lucknow Public School, gathered Sunday for an online interactive session by HOPE Initiative to discuss and explore strategies of coping and resilience.
Of the many segments of society that are facing the present brunt, school teachers are a particularly the hard-hit lot. Apart from the universal fear of infection, they find themselves being pushed into crazy degrees of multi-tasking: looking after children’s studies, cooking, household chores in addition to the teaching. To make matters worse, they are being pushed from comfort zone of conventional classroom teaching to a new one of on-line teaching in which they have often had no experience.
The shift to online teaching can be daunting, confessed several teachers. Teaching is one thing, being tech savvy is quite another. And to have parents sitting next to the students and criticising the teacher who is trying to find her way in the ‘new normal’ classroom can be deeply intimidating and distressing!
In the initial part of the seminar, the discussion points revolved around identifying symptoms of stress, recognising the major stressors and learning about techniques to deal with change.
Raashi Khanna, a known psychologist addressed their problems and stressed on three factors constituting the survival package: the inescapable necessity to ADAPT to the altered situation rather than running away from it, the coping phenomenon … increasing one’s ability to withstand. And third, is a powerful mental trick called resilience, that capacity to be mentally tough and recover quickly from difficulties. ‘Bend YES, but break NO!’
In times of upheaval, the weak often crumble. Those with resilience are the ones who fight back, survive and conquer!
During the interactive session, Raashi taught a few mental tricks to overcome stress and refill the mind with positive energy. One included keeping half an hour aside each day as ‘worrying time’ to indulge in the negative thoughts that choke the mind. ‘Writing them down often helps,’ she said, but emphasised the need to move the mind away from worries when the allotted half-hour period gets over.
The need for a daily routine was emphasised: time for regular exercise, time for ventilating the mind and charging it with creative rewarding thoughts and hobbies, time to be in the present (mindfulness) rather than in the fear filled future. She also stressed on ‘sleep hygiene,’ urging teachers to switch off electronic devices and TV a few hours before going to bed so that the sleep can be relaxing and invigorating.
Teachers have a very important role to play in society: if they are stressed, students cannot be positive thinking good learners. Parents and mangers should appreciate the important role they play in shaping the minds and attitude of our next generation.