Teachers give too much during the school year. They call it “empathy burnout.” It used to be just teaching the material in an effective and equitable way, but now it’s about policing mental health, phones, social skills, learning difficulties, cheating, AI, and minds easily manipulated by misinformation and false images on the internet, thanks to TikTok and other consumer-exploiting companies and institutions.
What’s rehab for all of that? I encourage students to unplug and get into nature. Why? The cure for me and burnout is saltwater. And leopard sharks. Getting beyond the surface has always been inspiring and life changing. Even though I have anxiety and a fear of sharks and swimming alone.
And sometimes even painting them. My daughter and I discovered how to make DIY fossils and paintings a few years ago.
I tell my students to travel and challenge their comfort zones. Even if that gives them anxiety too. Because the only way to overcome it is to challenge it, little by little. And for me, that started with sharks.