So September is now here and the summer holidays already feel like a long time ago! At the same time, the weather is showing signs of Autumn and our hours of daylight are shortening. It’s no wonder that so many of us have a case of the blues at this time of year!
Thankfully though, science tells us that are plenty of things we can do to help ourselves, and the young people with work with, to feel better! Here’s a few tips:
Gratitude
The science on gratitude is well-founded for its positive effects on wellbeing, a quick positive psychology activity you can do yourself and with the young people you teacher is called ‘three good things’. At the end of each day, identify three good things that have happened and you are grateful for, these don’t have to be big things and can include someone showing you kindness or someone making you a drink for example.
Savouring
The cooler days are a great time for enjoying a your favourite warm cuppa – or a ‘panad’ as we call it in here in Wales! Savouring is when we pay extra attention to an experience to fully appreciate its positive aspects – why not take pay some extra attention to your favourite drink and really savour it, really taking notice of the taste and smell and feelings of warmth as you drink. You can also practice savouring by reminiscing about past positive life events and by anticipating future ones, this can be brought into class too by asking young people about their positive memories and anything they are looking forward to in the future. Savouring has been found to balance out negative emotions arising from stressful events and to boost positive emotions and life satisfaction.
Nature
I actually love autumn, even though I do struggle with reducing amounts of daylight and the return to the daily routine. I love seeing the leaves change colour and walking through them on the ground while listening to the crunch! A little bit of blackberry picking never goes a miss either! Why not take time to pay attention to the changes happening in the natural world, go for a walk and look at all the different colours in the leaves on the trees, and maybe collect some pine cones or conkers along the way. Encourage the young people you work with to do the same, and if possible incorporate this activity into the ‘daily mile’ or another outdoor activity. Science has proven that spending time in nature helps to generate positive emotions, improves concentration, improves sleep, reduces stress and reduces chronic illness. Even watching nature documentaries has been found to bring about these positive benefits, so if getting outdoors isn’t possible, then pop something on the TV at home and on the whiteboard in class.
So they’re my top tips for dealing with the back to school blues! What are you going to try out first for both yourself and the young people you work with?
And finally, remember – it’s not too long until Christmas!!