Are you tired? I am. We hear a lot of talk about self care and mental wellness. Most individuals know the topic of self care, but practicing taking care of one’s self is a totally different story. How many times do we set goals of walking more, eating better, and sleeping longer all for those goals to get sidetracked within 24- 48 hours of making them? It happens to each of us and it happens every day, if we are blessed enough to wake up again: it’s called life. So what do we do when ‘life’ keeps derailing our plans? We look inward. Often, we blame the disruption of our intentions on others, but in reality it is about us. Do we value ourselves enough to go for the walk? Do we value ourselves enough to put down the ice cream and pick up the apple instead? Do we value ourselves enough to turn off Person, Place, or Thing (currently, my favorite game show, but it comes on at midnight) and go to sleep?
The rolling bomb moves down the tracks continuously, but we can give it a whistle stop. We are the only ones who really determine the direction of our course. The true problem is often we don’t determine the steps to our destination ahead of the trip; we just start traveling. Then, we wonder why it is taking ‘forever’ to get where we are going or we realize that we barely boarded the train or missed the train because of our everyday habits. Last week, I attended a sisters self care themed fellowship at my local assembly; it was quite eye opening. The event was centered around what the speakers called seven pillars of self care. I didn’t realize there were categories of making sure I am alright, so my interest peaked immediately. This writing will highlight two pillars--mental health and emotional health. As the school year starts to brake and makes way for summer adventures, now is the time for you to move solo although you traveled with your educator colleagues as a cut of cars, always working in professional learning communities and maybe hanging out after work on Fridays. Now, it’s time for you to conduct your own train.
During your summer journey, make sure to proceed with caution by challenging your brain to do what it was created to do. Think. Log out your electronic devices and allow your brain to recuperate by visiting new tracks in a direction you may never have considered previously. Do not think about school, work, or anything that doesn’t make you joyous or feel relaxed. After a long and challenging school year, this was always a challenge for me, so before the last day have your plan to think relaxing and invigorating thoughts ahead of time. Imagine. Are you going on a trip? Are you endeavoring to visit new places in your city and participating in new events? Or are you like me, you have a hot date with the sofa? Whatever your pleasure, allow your brain to do something new as the speaker said, “our brains are uniquely designed and God given and are capable of thinking simple and complex thoughts”. She went on to explain that if a person “commit[s] his/her time [to the desired activity] then his/her brain will get you there”. Your imagination can take you places and those thoughts can become your alternate reality. Make a plan for your mental health, and commit to your trackage rights.
Emotional care, another pillar of self care, is a unit train. For me, it carries an enormous load. Is your load positive or is it negative? If I’m being honest, my unit train in the last year has imploded at times with bouts of crying which led to emotional eating of my favorite sweets that don’t act as treats to my body. Most people know the saying, “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”, but I digress. I enjoyed how this speaker brought our inner thoughts into the physical world by asking us to say something positive about ourselves. (I’m so glad she didn’t start with me; it gave me time to think about what in the world I would say out loud in front of all these people.) It was tough, but I did it. (Although I have a positive self image of myself, it feels weird to vocalize it aloud especially in front of others.) This presenter encouraged the audience to use positive affirmations. Each lady was gifted a beautiful, laminated affirmation card; my card says, “You Got This! God has already equipped you with what you need. On the days where you feel you can’t handle certain things, here is your reminder that with God, YOU GOT THIS!” The words are an excellent reminder of the truth of God’s word about us and His deep love and concern for everything that concerns us–everything. We have to like the speaker who said, “[realize] our emotions are not facts: don’t sit in the emotions and allow them to run you.” Your affirmations should act as a torpedo exploding all the negative thoughts and making a loud noise letting the world know you are important, loved, and valued.
As I watched the series finale of Young Sheldon, Sheldon packs up his train collection as his mother walks in. Mary, Sheldon’s mother, mentions something about his ‘toy trains’ and Sheldon gets very defensive about the items being called toys. He said they are replicas of actual trains. Our careers as professional librarians are not an easy journey; this is not a playground. People's lives and livelihoods are our hotel power. This year many districts have decided to cut the position altogether, others may be replaced with paraprofessionals, librarians have been sidetracked because of numerous book challenges acting as waybills for how librarians should build collections; library professionals please persist. You are the literacy trainmaster and summer is your opportunity as a brakeman. Although librarianship today denotes a heavy load carried by two trains, double head, over the hills of accomplishments. Don’t take out and use your fallen flag. Use your experiences–highs and lows–as ditch lights enhancing your future hopefully as a librarian still.
Now that the school year is closing; you have no excuse to commit to your self care. Develop a plan and strong habits now. Do not work the entire summer. I repeat do not work the entire summer. If you are working summer school or doing professional development training, wonderful but realize that even those career related activities have their place. Set your mental health care plans and emotional health care plans in action now, so that you can enjoy your summer, and be fulfilled enough to go back on track for the 2024-2025 school year. The students need you, and the library profession needs rested, dedicated, and passionate librarians back to be the head car on the road to literacy.
Lighting the way,
Fiya Librarian
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