Your Vitality and Mental Health Will Thank You
Research states that 1 in 5 people throughout the world, including those in New Zealand, live with mental illness. And that was even before we experienced a worldwide pandemic. With this data in mind, it is imperative that people – especially teachers – look after themselves for the sake of their own health. This flows onto all they share their life with, including those in the classroom.
Vitality matters and it travels. The dictionary defines vitality as, “The state of being strong and active with energy,” or, “The power giving continuance of life, present in all living things.”
I think it’s a bit like the effervescence that escapes when you open a bottle of champagne – when you take off the cage and pop the cork, there’s a rush of energy. That’s not to say that we all have to be rushing all the time – far from it. More that we have an awareness of where our vitality is at so we can make adjustments.
I have my own word for vitality which is PEPP®. PEPP® means living every moment of every day through a lens of Purpose, Energy, Pleasure and Profit. Living with PEPP® can make life more enjoyable for everyone but may be especially useful if you are feeling
exhausted or overloaded. Perhaps because your role or reports have changed, or because your subjects or classes have changed. Perhaps the world has changed or you can’t
remember a time when you could easily switch off from work and enjoy family time without having thoughts of work whirling around in your head almost 24 hours a day. Living with PEPP® will mean something different for everyone. You are encouraged to find the balance that
is right for you. Find what is right for you now, because the dynamics will change with passing time.
To briefly cover each element:
• Purpose: What are you here to achieve? Perhaps you always wanted to leave a legacy as a teacher. Is the activity you’re doing right now taking you closer toward that?
• Energy: How are you showing up? Do you need to speed up or slow down for the sake of your physical and mental health?
• Pleasure: Do you enjoy what you do and plan something pleasurable every day?
• Profit: Is the activity you’re doing profitable in some way? It may not just be about money. For some people, such as teachers, their profit “currency” might be happiness through contribution.
At different times in your life you will give each of these PEPP® elements a different emphasis. What I’m also talking about though, is considering them all every day, especially if things are not going as well as you’d hoped. If you’re doing something that you’re not enjoying, then think about why you’re doing it and what you can do
to change it.
This may seem simplistic, but with time and practice, it becomes easier to think about what you can be grateful forin any given situation. This is a way of vicariously getting some pleasure and improving your energy at the same time.
To enhance this still further, plan for pleasure every day. Yes! Every day. It doesn’t have to be something HUGE like an extravagant outing. It might be watching the sunrise, sunset, getting a coffee at your favourite local café or walking your dog.
Spontaneous fun and pleasure is important too, of course, but the mindset I want to encourage is that you do literally need to make a plan for what you enjoy every day. It doesn’t have to wait for weekends or school holidays.
It means it’s an essential part of a work day as well as a non- work day!
There are some amongst us who work so very hard and don’t consider that they’re “allowed” to take time out until all the labour is done. I want to break this paradigm because there will always be work to be done! But you won’t always be as young as you are today. Consider
it part of the mix of looking after yourself – rather like brushing your teeth – that having some pleasure is essential for your sanity rather than something to feel guilty about.
I am obsessed about vitality and the impact it has on us and our world. I challenge you to embrace it too…starting with planning for pleasure every day. Make it a habit that your health will thank you for as you become happier.
