Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/combating-director-burnout/5024862/
When Sara Gilliam emailed me about writing an article for Exchange on Combating Director Burnout, I didn’t hesitate to respond yes! I was honored to be asked. Little did I know that this would be one of the hardest months of this school year. I would need “walk the talk,” so to speak.
Burnout is defined as a “prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal job stressors” and can include symptoms of emotional exhaustion, detachment from others, and feeling ineffective at work (Wei, 2016). Furthermore, chronic stress leads to 60 to 80 percent of medical visits to a primary care doctor (Wei, 2016). In a field where job burnout is high, early childhood directors must look for concrete ways to decrease their own stress levels.
The top reasons that I am in early childhood, the things that bring me the most joy, can also be the biggest stressors: children, families, and teachers. This past month, it was more difficult to capture the joy amid the struggles of disgruntled parents, two broken arms on the preschool playground on the same day, and a beloved teacher letting me know she wasn’t returning in the fall. I needed to open my arsenal of tools to combat ...