Why Breaks Matter Reflection
WHAT’S THE ISSUE: Have you noticed how we make more mistakes when we don’t take breaks during the day (or is it just me…?). Today I’m going to share with you three of the lessons I learned while watching an old video. I took this video while trekking in Mt. Pelion during Easter break a few years back. This is a mundane (but amusing!) example of how our communication skills are affected when we ignore our body’s calls for a break. And it’s inspired me to start taking my need for breaks more seriously. Here’s why.
WHY BREAKS MATTER: IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION
Pushing on when I need to take a break affects my communication with my partner.
If you watch the video you’ll see that amidst the jokes, laughter, and silliness (as we huffed and puffed our way up the mountain to Milies on this hot spring day), we made several communication mistakes.
AKI: [Putting on fake Greek accent] So now, we continue the last part, which is very easy [exaggerated inhale]. It’s like a cup of a cake. [Mumbles to himself: A cup of cake!]. And a piece of tea.
ELENI: [Laughter] No, you’re messing it up! It supposed to be a cup of cake.
AKI: A cup of tea, and a piece of cake. How did I mess it up?
ELENI: [Laughter] Yes, that’s true! You didn’t. You’re right.
AKI: So now, we’ve reached the first houses of Milies.
ELENI: This is nice. Where are the houses??
I messed up because when I tried to correct Aki’s word choice, I made the mistake
of repeating his mistake. Meanwhile, Aki messed up because he was convinced
that he’d got it right – when he hadn’t. Only when he saw the footage did he realize he had in fact made a mistake.
Looking back, it makes total sense that we were unable to think clearly.
It was a hot day, we weren’t hydrating, and we were determined to keep trekking without taking any breaks – until we reached our destination.
Taking a break was out of the question – we had a destination to get to! (Note to self: what’s the rush?!)
What I learnt from reflecting on this exchange is that it’s harder to think and to communicate clearly when we refuse to take a break.
And as a serial Working-Through-Breaks Offender (I was the kid you’d find
studying during lunch break in a quite corner of the high school library in my final
year of high school…so this bad habit goes waaay back), it’s exciting to know that
I’m now getting out of the denial phase and realizing that I need (and want) to
take more breaks.
This may be a trivial example of how just ‘powering on’ without taking breaks while trekking can lead to increased chances of poor communication (which it is). But it’s made me realize something with potentially more serious consequences: skipping breaks is also affecting my communication in the classroom.
WHY BREAKS MATTER: IMPACT ON WELL-BEING
Pushing on when I need to take a break is also affecting my ability to communicate clearly in the classroom.
Especially when it’s the end of term, and I’m feeling the (by now) familiar signs of burn-out kicking in. Even though I’m getting better and better at seeing the signs sooner as my self-care practices at work improve, I still have a harder time thinking clearly at the end of term.
Up until now, I’d often work through my “breaks” during my teaching day, for various reasons. I had a false belief that “I can cope without taking breaks”. But as the term progressed, I started making mistakes out of the same foggy brain effect that you see in the video.
I’d make mindless mistakes, like saying ‘Hitler’ when I meant to say (and I was SURE I’d said) ‘FDR’ while facilitating a class discussion in my Year 11 lesson on how FDR’s New Deal affected the American economy in the 1930s…because the lesson before I had my Year 9s, and we were talking about Hitler’s Germany. So I was still partly ‘stuck’ in the previous lesson, and I said Hitler instead of FDR in the middle of a point about FDR’s leadership!
As embarrassing as it is, these kinds of mistakes are a constant reminder of the fact that I’m deluding myself in my belief that I can work for hours on end without taking a brain break. Because my ability to think and communicate is clearly being affected.
So I have a choice. I can either continue be in denial about the fact that I need to take breaks during the working day. I can pretend to be Superwoman (or Wonder Woman) and keep trudging on. Or I can start taking responsibility for the fact that something needs to change in the way I work and live my life.
It’s up to me to make the change.
The only question now is: how?
WHY BREAKS MATTER: SUSTAINABILITY
We need to figure out solutions for how to work sustainably.
Did you know that the World Health Organization is preparing to add burn-out to the International Classification of Diseases in 2020?
Not because burn-out is a disease, but because doctors are experiencing so many cases of people coming to them who are suffering from work-related stress “that has not been successfully managed”.
It’s now an international cause for concern in the 21st-century workplace.
I’m no guru on this topic. As you can see from the video of my trekking example, I find it hard to give myself a break (quite literally!) even in my leisure activities.
But something tells me that our mentality (or maybe it’s just me; I’m sure some of you have already achieved a healthy relationship with taking breaks) to always be doing-doing-doing may be partly responsible for the fatigue or burn-out that many of us are experiencing right now.
As the concept of a 9-to-5 job becomes a thing of the past (I mean, how many people do you know who work from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, right now?), we’re invited to ask ourselves some important and challenging questions:
- How can we work more sustainably, from now on?
- How can we set healthier boundaries (internal and external) in schools to meaningfully improve communication between parents, staff, school leaders, and students?
- What needs to change for us to be healthier role models for our students (if you’re a teacher), children (if you’re a parent), and team (if you’re a school leader) about our work habits?
I don’t know what the answers to the questions are.
I’m trying to figure this out myself, right now.
But I feel it’s important that we start talking about and exchanging solutions if we want to improve our communication as teachers, parents, and school leaders in this new academic school year.
