Exhaustion: The War Within

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome back to Educational Warfare. I'm Dr. Jordan Lauer. Today we are finishing up our

(00:16):
three episode arc covering exhaustion. Today's episode is exhaustion, the war within. And
we've been on this journey so far. We're going to wrap it up today. Before we get to that
though, please find us on all the socials that you can go to. We are on XEDU Warfare.
We are on Blue Sky as well. And you can email us at educationalwarfare.pod at gmail.com.

(00:42):
And I'd like to introduce my cohost, Ryan Jackson. Hey, how are you doing today, Dr.
Jackson? Thanks, Doc. Doing awesome. Really excited to dig into this episode. The war
within, man. This one speaks to me. I mean, personally, directly. So I think this is going
to resonate with so many of our listeners. Really excited to dig in, man. I am post Thanksgiving

(01:05):
focused now. So I've gotten all those carbs out of the way. I'm ready to dig in, get back
on my grind and start talking about how we can help people with this war within. That's
bubbling. Let's get to it, man. Yes, absolutely. And the last episode, we did a Thanksgiving
special to, you know, we've been talking about education, which is kind of a heavy topic.

(01:26):
So we wanted to take a little break around the holidays while you were traveling around
while you were meeting with family and just help remind ourselves and hopefully all of
you listeners how education is something that we are and should be thankful for because
it's a special practice. But, you know, here on this show, our job and what our goal is
to attack the issues that are attacking educators. And that's what we're doing with exhaustion.

(01:48):
But we wanted to say what we're thankful for and how awesome education is. So if you haven't
listened to that, go listen to it. It'll kind of help recharge your battery, sharpen that
saw a little bit, kind of put you back in some perspective. And also our first two episodes
of this arc, episode one, exhaustion, the war at work and episode two, exhaustion, the
war at home are already out. So if you're just catching this one, go listen to those

(02:10):
that we, you can see the buildup and how we talked about the things that work that affect
us, how we talked about how that exhaustion follows home and affect our relationships
with our spouses, families, children. And today we're talking about how it affects us
inside and how we can manage that and some of the things that can do to us.
Yeah. And I think, you know, this is, this is a podcast designed, you know, not only

(02:34):
for educators, but also the greater stakeholder community. So of course we're talking to parents
and we're even talking to partners, anybody that's in the ecosphere of education. You
know, we are really designing this to help you. So we're talking about what the war within
this, this concludes this three part arc, limited series, go back, catch up on the back

(02:58):
catalog, get caught up to speed. Cause what we're delivering for you today is practical.
It's purposeful, intentional. We're here to help you. And you know, doc, you had talked
about our, our gratitude episode, you know, we're thankful, wanted to take just a small
break from some of the heaviness of education, but let's don't forget. I mean, gratitude

(03:20):
in itself is practical as well, because when you're filled with gratitude, when you're
grateful, you cannot simultaneously be anxious. When you're filled with that gratitude, keeping
yourself in that state of mind, I'm just grateful for this. I get to versus I have to that kind
of mindset lowers anxiety drops your cortisol. So let's stay in that mindset of gratitude

(03:49):
for as much as we can. It's not always possible. Certainly life gets in the way, but go back
and dig into that gratitude episode and fill yourself with that mindset. Yeah. I love that.
Yeah. I love that. If you're filled with gratitude, it is more difficult to be filled with other
things and it's a struggle to fill the gratitude. But if you keep that mindset, all these other
things we're talking about are more difficult in their process of attacking you there. It's

(04:14):
harder for them to get in. And I like you said that, I like, I like you said that it's
a struggle when we dig into the episode, the war within here coming up, we're going to
talk about that a little bit, that top down processing and being intentional and getting
that kind of mental agitation, which is the inflection point, you know, for neuroplasticity
do we're getting into all that today, man. Let's dive in, buddy. Let's go. It's exciting.

(04:37):
All right, let's get to it. All right. So the first thing is let's discuss what exhaustion
does to us all by ourselves, all in our lonesome, in our minds to our bodies. So, but before
we kind of get into exactly what that does to us, just to lend a little credence, you

(04:57):
know, a little gravitas to what we've been talking about, it's not just two guys with
a lot of educational experience telling you that there's exhaustive things in the field.
There are quite a few studies that have done this. So one of the studies is from the American
Educational Research Association, and they state that teachers in the U S are 40% more

(05:18):
likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and exhaustion in comparison with healthcare workers,
where 20% more likely to experience exhaustion, anxiety than office workers, and 30% more
likely than workers in other professions like the farming and the military.

(05:39):
Man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to as I as I have been known to do, man, I gotta play
devil's advocate here a little bit. Love it. It's not that I don't believe the percentages
per se, but man, do I hope nurses are listening to this podcast. We've got a husband or wife
that's involved in education. They're a spouse, they're a friend, whatever it is. You know,

(06:01):
I just know so many nurses, man, parents of students have had friends. Oh my gosh, that
is such a profession, man. So much just you want to talk about exhaustion. I would love
to just challenge anyone in the health science field to to reach out during our mailbag episode
and challenge that percentage because educators got it rough. But man, I would think those

(06:24):
healthcare workers are right in that same boat. Oh, absolutely. Any healthcare workers or
any other profession, we'd love to hear from you at educationalwarfare.pod at gmail.com.
Send us comment on it. Just, you know, challenge us back. We are not afraid to be challenged.
We love to hear it. Obviously, we want everything to be congenial and those challenges, but
we'd love to hear and just kind of get your perspective because that's one of the reasons

(06:45):
after reading that study, I wanted to talk about it because, you know, you think of 40%
more likely than healthcare workers. You know, I mean, they are think about that, just the
general idea of healthcare workers who have as much unknown things happen to them in the
day as teachers, most likely more. And obviously, their situations can be way more drastic.

(07:07):
You know, it would be a very bad day if a student just ran. I think, you know, I think
my, you know, my measurable there is, you know, I work a lot with industry, so industry
partners building those bridges to connect with schools, with districts, etc. So one
of the biggest pain points right now outside of, you know, teacher retention, teacher shortage,

(07:30):
that crisis is, I mean, nursing, you know, the health, healthcare crisis, just in terms
of the nursing shortage. So when I just look at that measurable right there, that metric,
you know, which, which crisis is out competing each other for who needs help the most in
terms of labor, in terms of the next generation stepping up and filling that void, you would

(07:51):
have to put nursing right up there near the top.
Absolutely. And I think it's important, you know, again, we're not trying to say, education
is harder in any profession. We're not. We're talking about that. That's kind of our forte.
We want other professions to listen because these things are applicable across professions.
But it's important to understand that as we're talking about this exhaustion, it's not just

(08:16):
hearsay. It's not just teachers saying, I'm tired because I have to do with kids. These
are measurable stats, debatable, obviously any status. That's what's great about science.
You find something, you hope other scientists and other researchers tear it apart and prove
you wrong. Cause that's how science grows. That's why I love science. But it is important
to say that these numbers, according to this research are there. And that means what you're

(08:38):
feeling out there. That means that when you get in that car and you feel like you are
sinking and melting into your seat and may sometimes struggle just to put the car in
reverse to back out of your parking spot. Cause you're so tired. That is saying that
it is real. And that's our whole point here. We want to get you out of the mindset of what
I'm feeling is just me. These are real things. And that's what we're digging into. Let's

(09:03):
share some, you know, some symptoms, some commonalities that people are probably going
to connect and resonate with. And don't forget, you know, we connect more deeply, you know,
through our, our flaws, through our struggles than we do our triumphs. So shout out that
list and let's just kind of see how many of those, you know, if this was almost like an
ACE score, how many of these boxes we would, we would check to see where our cortisol number

(09:28):
is going to fall. But I have a feeling this list is going to resonate with a lot of people.
Yeah, absolutely. So here, what we're talking about the list is these are some of the warning
signs of teacher exhaustion. And this can be depending on your level of exhaustion. So
this is not, if you're feeling slightly exhausted, you're not going to get exactly all of these,
but these are things, you know, do a little mental checklist as we're reading this off.

(09:50):
Do you feel any of these, you know, be aware of those warning signs. Our brain is designed
to warn us when there's harm happening to us, even, you know, obviously physical harm,
we have the fight or flight response. But these are emotional mental harm that can also
our body can be saying, Hey, something's wrong. I've been trying to tell you via X. So please

(10:12):
listen. So let's see if you've been having any of this or experiencing these on any level.
So some of the warning signs are a change in appetite, weight gain or weight loss, anxiety
or depression, fatigue, sleep disorders, irregular hair loss, lack of job satisfaction and the

(10:35):
inability to enjoy downtime. And if these aren't taken care of, if these symptoms, one
thing to think about, why did I ask you to kind of see if you've had any of these just
to do a little self check. If these symptoms aren't addressed or at least kind of monitored,
they can lead to more serious symptoms such as chronic depression and further health issues.

(10:57):
So that's why we're talking about this because exhaustion is real. It's not just something
you feel. Yeah. And you know, the thing on that list, there's, there's two that just
jump out at me personally. But when we talk about how, you know, the, the chronic effect
of these can culminate in, in depression, you know, something that's significant. So

(11:18):
the two for me, I mean, sleep disorders, inability to enjoy downtime. So inability to enjoy town
downtime, we can't be in the present. You know, we're locked into this hyper focus of,
of work or expectations or to do lists, you know, just those, that thing. And it's probably

(11:38):
work related that has a centered on something else other than being present and enjoying,
you know, family time, recreation, whatever it is we're doing. The other one, that sleep
disorder. So now our inability to get quality rest. And for me, it's not just sleep duration,
like how long I was in the bed, but also sleep quality, you know, how many, how, in terms

(12:04):
of that wave, you know, that 90 minute cycle of where I fall in REM, where I fall in deep
sleep, how our brain resets during that time, how we recharge. I mean, all of that is impacted
there with that sleep disorder. So think about it, that combo of, I can enjoy my downtime
when I'm at home. And then on top of it, I'm struggling to sleep because I continue to

(12:29):
hyper fixate on whatever is going on at work. Man, that's a nasty one, two punch combo.
It really is. I mean, we talked about that with the war at home that you're inability
to enjoy downtime. You're thinking about grading. You're thinking about that lesson. You're
thinking about an issue with your principal. If they're just demanding a lot and you find

(12:53):
yourself doing something really fun. And oftentimes remember that, that whole point of that episode
too is you're with your children. You're with your spouse, you're with your friends and
they're laughing, doing something. And you catch yourself thinking about, Oh gosh, my
kids bombed that last test. How am I going to remediate? How am I going to reteach? That
adds up. Your body is saying, Hey, you're doing something you should be enjoying. Like

(13:16):
your body wants that dopamine hit from the positive experience you're having. That's
why we continue to have positive experience. And you're blocking that from happening because
you're kind of stuck. Your brain won't let you get out of this exhaustion loop that you're
just, Oh yeah, you think you should be having fun, but should you be working on this?
It's really, it's, it's really, man, I'm gonna interject there. And I love that you're, you're

(13:38):
dipping our toe into this conversation. You know, think of dopamine and serotonin up versus
down, right? So dopamine is anything when you look up, you know, it's, it's, I got to
reach for that. Right. Okay. So it's up versus serotonin is down. When I look down, this
is what I have. Right. So it's really about chasing what I don't have, what I can, what

(14:01):
I'm reaching for versus appreciating what I do have. Right. Dopamine versus serotonin.
So when we're with our people, I mean, that serotonin, that feeling of enough, what I
have is great. What I have is beautiful. We can't, we can't experience that because we're
too focused on up, you know, what's next, what haven't I done? What still needs to be

(14:27):
done? What wasn't good enough? So that's how we're hurting, you know, not only ourselves,
but the people that we're with. What I think differentiates this episode, the war within
versus the war at home. Yes. When you're hyper fixated on work on that dopamine hit, I haven't

(14:47):
done enough. There's still more to do. You are taking away your involvement with your
family's experience. So you are impacting the family. That's the word home. The war
within compounds that problem. You are still impacting the people at home by your inability

(15:09):
to be present, your unwillingness to connect, to stop focusing on work. But the war within
tells us now you're dealing with that internalization, that shame, that frustration. I haven't been
able to do that. Now I feel guilt, which is one of the most useless emotions known to
a human being, but you're just consumed by it. I feel guilty on top of it. So I'm taking

(15:32):
this time away from my family, not being able to get that awesome serotonin that I need
to feel like this is enough to sustain me. But I'm also now dealing with the internalization
of those feelings, guilt, shame, frustration, all of that compiled, man. That stuff, to

(15:52):
your point, does add up in the body. I love that book, The Body Keeps the Score. It's
real stuff, man. Powerful. It is, yeah. Just real quick, staying on the old dopamine thing.
The interesting thing is once you start thinking about the inability to enjoy your downtime
and having that, let's couple that with one of the other items on the list, anxiety. Anxiety

(16:16):
is a warning bell. It's not actually a disease, really. It's a symptom of what's happening.
You feel anxiety because your brain is saying, hey, what's up? It's one of my great authors,
Dr. John Delany. He writes a book called The Anxious Life. He says anxiety is simply if

(16:40):
you're sitting in your house and your house is on fire and you're sitting on the couch
flipping through the channels. Anxiety is the fire alarm. It's not the house on fire.
It is the fire alarm saying your house is on fire. Get out. You can ignore it if you
wanted to. It's not the actual fire. When you feel that anxiety, it's your brain saying

(17:02):
it's a symptom of something else. Now you pair that with your inability to enjoy downtime.
If you start to make it to where you're feeling anxious about something at school and not
enjoying your downtime, going back to that dopamine, you can actually train your brain
to give yourself that dopamine dump when you then go back to doing something about school.

(17:24):
Let's say you're hanging out outside with your kids. You're jumping on the trampoline.
While you're going...
While you're jumping, you're half in, half out. We'll talk about that later. You're half
in, half out. You're jumping up and down. You're thinking about school. Then you're
like, oh, that was fun. You run in and do schoolwork. Your brain will actually reward
you for doing the schoolwork because you're anxious about it. Now you've trained your

(17:48):
brain to enjoy, to want, because that's what dopamine is. It's that positive hit. Your
brain wants more and more of it. That's why we all love getting likes on social media.
That's why we check our phone incessantly when we post something. You've now trained
your brain to actually enjoy coming in and doing schoolwork more than jumping on the
trampoline with your kids.
Right. What that's called, what you're using there, which is a tactic, is subjective dopamine.

(18:14):
Instead of letting dopamine control us, and I love how you use the social media example
there. You make a post. Now my next need is the likes on that post. That's going to impact
my dopamine. I'm searching for that constant. I like to use the word you use there, incessantly.

(18:35):
It's now compulsive. I just got to see who liked it, who didn't. That's dopamine. Remember
friends, it's never enough. With dopamine, it's never enough. Training your brain to
use dopamine subjectively would say, man, I really want that first pull of coffee in

(18:56):
the morning. I've been training myself to not have that first pull of coffee until at
least 30 minutes post wake up. But that's challenging, man. You get up, I want that
pull, that first pull of coffee. I know it's going to taste so good. I mean, I get up,
I can taste it. It's warm, right? The caffeine hit, boom. However, I now use that. So that

(19:22):
feeling, I mean, it's almost palpable, man. I can feel it. I can taste it, but I'm using
that now as a carrot. I'm using it. I know what that feeling is like. I'm going to place
it a little further down the road. And that is my goal, but I'm going to do this 15 to
20 minutes of intense stationary bike cardio in order to earn that coffee. And man, that

(19:48):
is subjective dopamine. Now I put myself through that and when it's done, what's the reward?
The dopamine. But while I'm on the bike, I mean, in minute eight where it's just up the
hill and I'm thinking of that coffee, I mean, it is now a legit carrot and almost its own
stick. It's just driving me towards that. So subjective dopamine as a practice friend.

(20:12):
And that may be something for another episode for us to do, but that is powerful, powerful
strategy to use when trying to reach goals for sure.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's what we're, this is the war within. So these are things that
are happening inside us. It's not, you know, we're talking about hanging out with your
kids with these are things you're feeling. You're not a lot of times you're not consciously
doing this. Uh, you know, and another thing on this list is fatigue feeling fatigue. You

(20:35):
know, it is, it's natural in your example to get off that bike and feel some fatigue.
Now you'll also feel awesome. You'll feel that little, yeah, endorphins are, endorphins
are pumping all of that. Awesome. But then you'll feel, you'll, you'll be a little tired
and stuff. It's not normal to feel like you can't move when you get home, you know, to
feel that you are so, unless you ran around and, you know, did crazy stuff like you're

(21:00):
on a field day, we're outside 95 degree heat all day. Yeah. That you come home, probably
need a nap, but you're just in your normal environment that you've now trained your body
and your brain to be in. This is your norm. And you come home and again, or get in your
car and feel like you melt in that seat and it might take you two minutes to even put
it in reverse. That's a sign of that. You are feeling exhaustion, that you are kind

(21:21):
of dealing with burnout. And this is what we want to be able to kind of notice these
things. Man, I think, I think even worse than that, man, is that feeling. And I know we've
all been there, but I'm speaking to our educators here. You know, when you've, you've been intentional
about your sleep. So, you know, I'm going to bed early, man. I'm doing it, you know,

(21:41):
I saw 9 30, whatever that is. I'm going to bed. You lie down, you're struggling to get
to sleep, you get to sleep, you wake up that alarm time to go to work. You open your eyes,
you put your feet on the floor. You're still sitting on the bed and lo and behold, bro,
you're still fatigued. You're still exhausted. You're still just like, did I even sleep?

(22:06):
I mean, that's how you're starting the day. It's still dark and you haven't even stood
up yet. And it's not just this general sleepiness like, right. I'm so realistic. I'm talking
about waking up and feeling like, did I get any sleep at all? Because I'm still that fatigue.
And I think fatigue versus tiredness, man is a bit different though. You know, fatigue

(22:31):
seems to seep into every aspect of our being, right? From our physical to our cognitive.
I mean, even spiritual at times, it's just like, man, we're just, it's like an albatross
is honest, man. Just this weight that we're like, where is this coming from? I just went
to bed. Now let's tie that back to the war within. Then you get into that frustration.

(22:55):
I mean, I went to bed early. What is my problem? Yes. Now we're talking about hopelessness.
What am I doing? Why can't I figure this out? Oh, the war within bro. And the people around
us are like tired of hearing it. I mean, dude, we went to bed last night. We went early.
I feel fine. What is your problem? Exactly. Man. Yeah. I de-stressed by watching this

(23:20):
episode. You said you wanted to go to bed early. I went with you and now you're still
tired. What do we need to do? There's like no coming back from that because you can't
complain at that point. Right. Right. Everybody bought into what you need. Like, Hey, we're
shutting it down. I need this rest. And now you're telling us that wasn't it. That didn't
work. Right. You're still just as tired. You're telling me you went to bed early last night

(23:43):
and you're actually more tired than you were. I know, you know, it's fascinating stuff,
man, but that is fatigue. That's when you know it's on you. Right. And this is a symbiotic
relationship that we have with this kind of work. And that's when you know, man, it's
got its tentacles. Yes, it is on. It is inside. It has wrapped you up. And again, warning

(24:03):
signs. That's what your body's doing. Your body is saying, Hey, something is wrong. I've
tried to sleep. My, our brains are still functioning this way. It's still causing this anxiety
still hitting now, fatigue's hitting and now you're just feeling depressed. And it's sadly,
it is, it's cyclical. Again, when I've talked about this previous episode, it's like rolling

(24:25):
that, rolling that snowball down a hill. All of these things, you might start with one
of these symptoms. You know, you might start with the anxiety and the inability to enjoy
downtime. And then you, because you're feeling that now all of a sudden you're, you're just
worried about that. You're thinking about that. Now you start to feel the fatigue and
now you go to bed early. You, you come home and take a nap and your spouse is like, man,

(24:47):
you must have had a rough day. You take a nap and then you get up and you're like, Oh
yeah, I'm still tired from the nap. You tried to do stuff. And then you're like, Hey, can
we go to bed early? I'm still tired. And then like we were talking about, you do that. And
the next day you wake up that way. So now you're like, I can't tell them I'm still tired.
I had a nap and 10 hours. Oh no. And then that's when you start falling into some of

(25:08):
these even more physical things like the change in appetite, right? The weight gain or weight
loss, you know, our bodies, again, all this is a reactive system. Our body is prime directive
can take care of me. So when you lose weight, your body's saying, Hey, there, maybe there's
something within me. I need to shed this. Maybe it's something stored. If you gain weight,

(25:29):
your body's saying, I am scared that something is draining us. So I need to store this energy.
And so these are all things. And that, man, that can also just come down to the person
too. You know, when I think of the way stress impacts us from an appetite standpoint, you
know, case in point for me, stress dampens my appetite. I mean, all but all but loses

(25:54):
it for me. I don't want to eat when I'm under that kind of stress. I have friends who stress
induced eat. I mean, stress makes them overeat. It's like a compulsive thing. For me, it's
kind of this polar opposites of stress with some people, all total loss of appetite. I
can't even think of food. It's gross. I'm hyper fixated on this other thing versus I'm

(26:18):
so stressed. I need that comfort. I need what brings me joy. I need it now. And I need it
in abundance. So kind of that emotional dysregulation there, because we're thrown off, you know,
by the toxicity of stress and cortisol and anxiety. So we're picking one of these two
binary poisons. I'm just going to starve myself or I'm going to overindulge and eat that tub

(26:44):
of ice cream. I mean, either way, man, it's a lose lose, you know, situation, but that's
the impact of stress on it. It is. And it's funny because I'm the exact opposite. Like
you said, you it takes your appetite away. I eat more and it's not so much a stress eating.
Again, it's kind of going back to that dopamine. My brain literally focuses of when was I happy?

(27:07):
And it's like meal times. That is the time I don't have to think about anything. Right.
That is I'm sitting at the table. So when I'm stressed, my brain says, oh, it's meal
time. This is when you get to talk. This is when you're not thinking about this or that.
So what I'll do is I'll eat more during that to prolong that meal time where normally if

(27:28):
I'm in a good spot, I'll eat a little chicken breast. I'll eat a little couple sides and
I'll be happy, you know, like six ounces or all the healthy things. But when I'm stressed,
I'll be like, you know, I don't feel full. I'm gonna go get half another chicken breast,
another little scoop of green beans, you know, so a couple tater tots because I made them
for the kids. And now I'm having two plates because my brain's saying, hey, this is this

(27:49):
is a good time for me. So I'm gonna keep it going. Yeah, I like that. I like that explanation.
You're trying to extend that time that you enjoy and food in that case, you know, is
the variable there that's extending the time because you're eating more to extend the time.
But also the food itself is enjoyable and it's a double whammy. It becomes a whole thing

(28:13):
and turns into, yeah, I'm overindulging here because I want to extend this time because
this is really where I want to be, where I want to stay. But that's not reality, man.
Reality says we got to get back to these other things. Absolutely. So we talked about some
of those issues on the list, some of the actual warning signs. Let's recap what can cause
exhaustion and try to connect the symptoms with the cause here so we can start to warn

(28:39):
ourselves and be aware of this. There is an article from Education Week by Maria Whiteleather
and there's some teacher quotes in there, some actual teachers. And I've thrown in some
that I've kind of asked some people in my realm about what they think. And obviously
one of the first ones, one of the very first thing that caused exhaustion is heavy workload

(29:01):
and lack of respect. And one of the quotes here says, it's the micro managing and lack
of professional respect for me. I'm an educated professional and I want to be treated and
compensated as such. What do you think of that one, Ryan?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's, I think it's true. It's one of those microaggressions that's

(29:22):
just going to gnaw at you constantly. You know, I've shared this before. I'm married
to a 19 year teaching veteran. She's an ELA All-Star, you know, currently working on the
state standards review board. I mean, she just loves it. She's got both feet in education.
She has her PhD. I mean, she commands a certain level of respect. And the reality is as a

(29:45):
teacher, she just does not always get that level of professionalism and respect that
is, that is deserved. You know, and I think that's just constantly on you. You know, we
talked about that symbiote. We talked about that albatross. It's just this thing that
you wear. Like you're constantly proving yourself. You know, you're constantly have to justify,

(30:10):
you know, opinions or requests. I mean, all of that in nature. Yes, that right there.
Am I respected? The job I do is incredibly challenging. No one really understands it.
I think that does just leave you with a general sense of fatigue that you're fighting that
battle constantly.

(30:31):
It's a problem because you're literally sitting there like, I am a good teacher. I've had
great scores. Who's coming up with these things? You know, that's the issue. It's like nobody
came and asked me how to do this. And we're talking about our school. And now I am, let's
say, you're talking about your wife. My wife has been a level five forever. I can't even

(30:55):
remember the last time she's dipped below that. And they come to her all the time with,
Hey, we need to raise these scores for your subject. And then within the school, but not
like so much her, but hey, we have to focus on these kids. And then they're bringing in
plans, strategies from other schools. And it's frustrating for her because she's like,

(31:17):
I'm a level five here. Why don't you ask me what I'm doing? Why don't you say, Hey, what
are you doing to bring it out? And that can be really exhausting because it's to the point
of I've reached the pinnacle of where you're my effectiveness level to where you guys say
I'm doing a good job, but then still nobody's asking me how I do stuff. And then telling

(31:38):
me I need to do it this way from people who may not be at that level, especially with
those kids. And that's super exhausting because I was adding work to your plate.
And spoken, spoken like a true educator, you're going to drop an LOE. In fact, I'm now wondering,
will there ever be an episode of this podcast where level of effectiveness is not referenced?
But teachers are, are always, are not only concerned about that level of effectiveness,

(32:03):
but when you reach that pinnacle, when you're number five and then your input is not only
sought out, but it's not valued. You know, it makes me think of author Daniel Pink. So
Pink wrote a book called drive. I love that book. And in there, he talks about the three
keys or three pillars to motivation, autonomy, purpose, and mastery. So when I think of motivation,

(32:28):
that feels like the opposite of fatigue. You know, I'm motivated, I'm inspired, I'm ready
to work fatigue, man. I'm down trodden. I'm tired. I need to take a break. I need some
rest. But you know, number one on those three pillars of motivation is autonomy. Man, I've
got a choice in this, my opinion, my decisions, my moves matter. You tie that in with purpose

(32:53):
and mastery. Now we're feeling motivated. But when you're not, when they're bringing
in these outside plans and pushing them onto you, they have not asked for your input, your
expertise. You're a professional in their building, doing the work. What is it, bro?
It's exhausting. So exhausting. It is. You're just doing that work. You're trying to do

(33:18):
all that. And like you said, it's autonomy. You feel like you have, you feel like you're
doing a good job. And then they kind of wrap you up and say, nah, we should do it this
way. And that kind of steals that from you too. And that, that could be exhausting when
you feel that loss. You know, other issues that this article mentions too, obviously
are low salaries. I feel that that's kind of low hanging fruit for us. Like we, everybody

(33:39):
knows the teacher salary thing. It can add up because you feel like you're doing a lot
of work and not being compensated enough. But on top of it, no, but I like that one
though, because to me that's when we have discussed this before, but I just think it's
so relevant, man. It can turn me up pretty quickly, you know, right? Low salaries. So

(34:00):
how has the system, you know, overcompensated for that, right? We create this narrative
that the work teachers are doing is life changing. It's noble, right? So we offset low salaries
by this prestige, if you will, this nobleness, you know, the humanity of the work you do.

(34:22):
And at the end of the day, I mean, it leaves teachers internalizing this sense of I'm working
so hard, constantly under duress, trying to change lives, beating my head against a brick
wall at times. And on top of it, I'm not paid nearly enough what I should. I mean, just

(34:42):
the feelings we're left with inadequacy, right? You know, just a stepchild comes to mind.
Am I really wanted here? Do they value me? They're telling me, but they're not showing
me by any means. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. I mean, at the end of the day, man, exhausting
and just compounds fatigue. Yeah. I always feel that education is the little brother

(35:04):
of professions. You know, the big brothers out there doing real things, little brother
kind of comes in and does something interesting. Everybody's like, great job. Like, that's
awesome. You're doing great. And it's more of like, but you know, you'll get there, you
know, where it's a platitude to where other people, it is very difficult when you talk
about compensation to see how hard we work then to hear, gosh, you're doing a great job,

(35:29):
or this is such important and noble work. And then sometimes you'll sit around various
people and who obviously aren't educators and they're being able to talk about and do
things that you simply can't because they make more money. And you're like, what do
you, what do you do? And they're like, oh, you know, I'm a computer analyst. I basically
just look at spreadsheets all day and kind of look at numbers. And you're sitting there

(35:52):
like, so they do that. And again, not ever hitting any other profession, but just comparing
or they're like, okay, so they do that. They look at spreadsheets, they go to water cooler,
super important for keeping that business functioning, but they're making so much more
than me. And I keep getting told that what I'm doing is important, but that doesn't stop
the power bill from coming. The power bill doesn't say, Hey, you're a teacher, you're

(36:15):
doing a great job here at where it takes some money off. The power bill still shows up and
says, Hey, money, you want them lights on. And so it's, it's tough to just kind of balance
those because you, I've talked to so many teachers who just like, I think I might just
go do this for less stress and more money. And I think that's a dangerous humanity. Doesn't
humanity, doesn't transfer to bank account. It's a separated, that's the reality of it.

(36:40):
So at the end of the day, if you're just constantly worried about making ends meet, man, you know,
beyond exhaustive, I mean that genuinely now pushing us into from concern to worry from
worry to anxiety, potentially slipping into depression. I mean, I can't take care of my

(37:03):
people. You know, you start thinking about, you know, now you're held hostage by the future.
You know, what is, what is my future going to be for myself, for my kids? Will we make
it? I mean, this is a reality man, for so many people. So it's not something to trivialize
or dis or dismiss. I mean, yes, I think just low salaries in general have gotten us to

(37:24):
this point, but the internalization of it, the war with in, you know, bringing that back
is the way others look at it. You get the summers off, your days done by this time in
the afternoon. I mean, we hear these things and it's hard for us to kind of refute them
at time. We want to say, yeah, but, but it's still a fact. Okay. So we're going to get

(37:46):
eight weeks off in the summer. But I'm telling you right now, if I did not have that, hear
me friends, if we did not have that, it's not sustainable period. So this has to be
there in order for this thing to even work because the job we do is so intense. It's
so stress inducing. I have to have that time. Like it's a non-negotiable, but for most people,

(38:08):
that's the sticking point. Yeah. But you get that like that offsets everything else. The
low pay, the demands at work, the inability to stop thinking about the number of lives
that are under your charge each and every day. I mean, all of that stuff added up, you
know, compared to salaries that we get professionalism, lack of respect, man leaves you feeling exhausted

(38:34):
impacts significantly fatigue. It really does. And just like you said, if we didn't get the
summers, and again, most of the summers, any non-educators, most summers for most of us
are training and preparing. We get a good chunk off. Like you get to kind of pick the
days, but there's PD, there's getting set up for next year. You know, we're not just

(38:55):
on a beach for eight straight weeks. We're also usually home with our kids and trying
to deal with that as well and keep them kind of on the right path. If we didn't get that,
I would, I feel very comfortable and solid in saying the average teacher career would
be about four years. I think most people could maybe go four years and then they'd have to

(39:18):
go somewhere else if you couldn't recharge that because it would just be, like I said,
it'd be a grind and we would just be in this fatigue and exhaustion snowball that we talked
about. And I don't think many people could sustain it without taking at least a break
going and doing something else for a couple of years. You know, and with that too is another
thing kind of at work. We talked about heavy workloads, lack of respect. We've talked about

(39:43):
low salaries. You know, there's also staff shortages where schools are short staff. So
sometimes you might be doing more than one job, you know, and then there's also safety
issues at school. Like I don't think we can avoid talking about that. It can be a bugaboo
for people, but you know, our jobs to attack what's attacking educators and it is exhausting.
Yeah, look, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a Stocksdale paradox guy. You know, you want to perpetually

(40:08):
maintain this faith. I mean, you can't lose that this faith that things are going to work
out, you know, while simultaneously being anchored in reality, understanding your current
situation and the problems that come with it. And safety issues are just one of those.
I mean, within the past generation, we have seen unquestionably in uptick, you know, in

(40:33):
violence. I mean, we've seen that. So I think as educators, as much as we want to believe
that's never going to happen to us, we hope that this never enters our lives. The reality
is it has across the country, you know, impacted schools, educators. We've certainly felt it

(40:57):
here as, as close in proximity, you know, in middle Tennessee, you know, within the
last couple of years. So no, these are legitimately real fears and worries for educators. And
I think anybody that says it's not, is not being honest with themselves or with the profession.
So it's just something that we carry into the building each and every day, but let's

(41:21):
tie that back to that war within. So we have to have this cognitive dissonance about it.
Like I'm going in here knowing this could happen. I mean, there's just so many opportunities
and possibilities for it to happen, knowing that it could, yet walking in and intentionally

(41:43):
not focusing on that, not thinking on that, believing that it will not, that it won't.
Man, that is a tough line to straddle, especially dude. And I know we've all felt this as educators
on those afternoons or those mornings where it has just happened in the United States

(42:03):
and it's top of mind, it's palpable. It's on everybody's social media. Everybody's talking
about it and you have to walk into work the next day and pretend like it didn't happen.
That's tough. That's exhausting.
It's very exhausting also to one, pretend like it didn't happen. And two, to look into
your students' eyes and know that you're a person who they trust. If you have a good

(42:29):
relationship with your students, they trust you and they kind of look at you like, is
he or she going to talk about it? What are they feeling? And obviously you don't want
to get, because it's such a what if, it's a warm hole. Like you can go into and like,
well, this, so they're kind of looking at you and you can sometimes see that they're
scared or worried, but then you're like, should I talk about this? Do I make that worse? I

(42:53):
don't want anybody to feel even more scared. And then we talk about this fatigue, right?
We talk about this, not being able to enjoy things while you're doing it. With the recent
uptick in it, with the recent being on all of the news and happening at a frequency it
is and random, you're teaching a lesson and you're always in the back of your mind listening.

(43:18):
And that is hard to do. Like you hear something in the hallway and you kind of hear a little,
it's a little loud out there. So you're kind of listening while you're talking. And part
of your brain is saying, if I hear this, what do I do? And that it's, it's terrifying. And
that being kind of constantly terrified, even in your subconscious exhaust you, you know,

(43:39):
again, that's that. Yeah. Well, cause you're, you're, you're dipping into fight or flight.
Exactly. So when you are perpetually in fight or flight response mode, I mean, dude, just
your level of cortisol constantly is elevated. I mean, the toxicity in your body that's swirling
around because you are quite literally worried if the end is right around the corner. I mean,

(44:04):
to be like that perpetually constantly in fight or flight mode. Oh man. And we wonder
why this fatigue like overtakes so many of us. I mean, that's what's happening. You can
actually get stuck in fight or flight mode. You know, your brain can live in that so often
that that's it's now it's neutral. It's it's first, it's that's where it starts. And you

(44:29):
can try to pull it out of that, you know, and on top of that too, you know, you mentioned
is this the end? And I know it's a heavy topic and scary, but again, we're, we're going to
talk about it because it exists. You know, not only is this the end, but again, what's
our job to shepherd, nurture, care for, educate students. So you're not only worried about,

(44:50):
oh my gosh, could this happen? It's, oh my gosh, will I perform in this situation in
a manner that ensures the safety of these children that are in my room? And that's,
that's terrifying. And it's, it's, and it's, you know, it's such a different kind of heroism
we're talking about. You know, we've talked about the nobleness of the profession, the

(45:10):
life-changing aspect of a teacher, you know, a principal and a student's life, man, now
you're talking about a different kind of heroism and we're asking people to do something so
incredibly beyond themselves or the soft expectation is there, you know, how ever you want to look
at that code that man, it's simply too much to put on a person when we have not done these

(45:36):
other things for them as well. I mean, yeah, it, it really is. I mean, back to the war
within and that cognitive dissonance and who are we and what do we really do? What are
our full expectations here? There's so many gray areas, so many unspoken things, you know,
that go into the actual job if this happens versus if that happens, man, it's just so,

(46:02):
so tough and it leaves us with this inner turmoil that we wrestle with where we're just
never really truly at peace. And I like how you put that man, you're in this constant
state of fight or flight. And when you take back and when you take a step back, man, and
just objectively look at how that leaves a person, man, it's just no wonder we feel the

(46:27):
way that we do. And just great point. And like the discussion even is exhausting. You
know, there's been so many things of when that happens, what should happen or how could
we prevent it. And a lot of times, and I know most of you probably nodded along with this.
A lot of times teachers, when that's being discussed in circles, we usually keep our
mouth shut because it's, you have to explain all this, you know, you'd have to say, Hey,

(46:52):
it's not that simple of what you want to do or you think will fix it because of this,
because of this, the danger of this. And it's even the discussion around it. Again, going
back to that first point we made, the lack of respect, it seems very few people are asking
teachers what they want to do. And then when they do ask teachers or teachers, hopefully
in a big part of our show here is to get the voice of educators and professionals out there

(47:17):
even more. It seems like when they do ask us or when we speak up loudly and clearly,
we're like, Oh, well, you know, they don't know. They're just worried about that situation
because they'd be in it. Yeah, we'd be in it. So here, here's the advice we're giving
you that we think it'd work. And it just kind of shuffled off because of so many other factors

(47:38):
and certain people don't want to look bad and certain things. It just sometimes listen,
listen to people who are there.
We've mentioned this before too though, man. You know, I also think there's just this general
sense that, I mean, that's what you signed up for. You knew that. I mean, this is what
you signed up for. And I just, I'm going to be honest, man. I hate that. I hate that kind

(47:58):
of explanation. You know, I hate that excuse. This is not what I signed up for. You know,
that's not true. That may be this soft expectation or kind of what's in the zeitgeist of what
the profession holds, but that is not what I signed up for. That was not in the original
job description. So no, teachers and educators, you do not have to accept that as an answer

(48:22):
well. That's what you signed up for. That's how it's always been. You know, that status
quo kind of mindset. Nope. No longer have to accept that. You know, just going to drop
a little seed here. We're going to be talking about Gen Z and some upcoming episodes. One
thing I love about Gen Z though, and they got a lot of things going on with them, but

(48:43):
one thing I love about them is man, they will, they will drop that hammer and say, nah, I
don't accept that. That's not what we're doing here. And in fact, if that's what's going
on here, I just won't be a part of it. Right. They're like, not for me. And really that's
going to be a game changer, watershed moment in terms of generations refusing to buy into
the status quo. Yeah. They don't accept something that's just laid out. They, they calculate

(49:05):
it through so many of their own personal filters. Yeah, just asinine. I'm not going to accept
it just cause. Yeah. Well, and then when you, when you talk about that's what you signed
up for too, you know, why do we send students to the principal's office, to alternative
schools sometimes to the law enforcement agencies, if there's a fight at school of a certain
level because that level of violence is not accepted in the school. So we didn't sign

(49:30):
up. You know, we have these methods of there's this level of violence, the easier consequences.
Those are the accepted levels that maybe teachers have signed up for that. Hey, there might
be a fight because these are teenagers and that's what happens sometimes that it doesn't
extend to mass violence. There's nowhere that that nobody signed up for that. You know,
I mean, even police officers, they have a level of expectations. I could get into a

(49:54):
dangerous situation, but they rarely, even them get into, Oh, I could be in a mass violence
situation where there's just so much going on and all this. That's, that's not exactly
a thing even they sign up for. So it is exhausting thinking about that. And it's, it's heartbreaking
even talking about it. I hate that it's a subject, but it's something we do have to

(50:14):
talk about. Cause I believe every teacher it's in the back of their mind and it scares
them to a certain point. Some are more, I'll do this. Like they're kind of action orientated
and ready.
And some teachers are just terrified. Like, please Lord, don't let this happen ever on
my watch or in any school. And that fear can seep in, especially again, when it happens,

(50:35):
again, it's that snowball because it happens. You feel it, you're on alert and then it kind
of doesn't happen, but then it happens again somewhere else. And that fear gets reignited.
It's right. It is. It's, it's a tough, tough mental situation to be in. I mean, I just
loved how you put it earlier. You're essentially in perpetual fight or flight mode, cortisol

(50:59):
constantly raised. So let's, let's, let's take a step back. First, kind of some levity
here and balance the scale a little bit. We're still going to stay on, you know, these, these
issues that have impacted fatigue and all that, but we'll move away from the heaviness
of safety issues and talk about something just as important, but ironic in kind of it's,

(51:25):
it's candor here. And that is when we're talking about, and I love how you shared this kind
of offline with me, you know, taking a sick day, right? So a teacher is going to take
a sick day. I need a day off, right? Teacher has to take a sick day, but I love how we
also have like mental health days now that's become a thing. I need a mental health day.
Okay. So let's kind of keep it in that, in that vein for a second. I need a mental health

(51:48):
day. So I'm going to use one of my sick days, but the reality for an educator, certainly
for teachers is the irony is, then you put in more work preparing for a sick day, a mental
health day, then you do just showing up and going to work. I mean, you have to be so prepared
in terms of your planning, sub notes, et cetera, that it really is its own thing just to get

(52:14):
to the mental health day that I need. I mean, talk to me about that, man. I know you've
experienced it.
Oh, absolutely. You have, you know, teachers struggle with this because some days you just
need a mental health day. I'm wiped. I just need a day to, I can take a breath and restart.
Some days you are legit sick, but either one teachers struggle. There's a meme from board

(52:35):
teachers where it says teaching the only profession we're taking a day off creates more work than
actually showing up to work in the first place. And true words have never been said, Ryan,
you know, all professions have work piled up when you get back, but teaching is unique
because of how much work, like you said, you have to do on the front end. You got to make

(52:56):
a lesson that'll keep students busy. It has to be rigorous. It has to also keep them interested
and behaved. You have to write up exhaustive plans for the sub that have so many sub categories
and bullets for each individual class. So you're telling the sub, Hey, they need to
do this. This is over here. They need to turn it in over here. If they finish, it's this
also six period, Jimmy and Billy can't really be near each other because they'll start jawing.

(53:21):
And also Sarah and Sally have been fighting over a boyfriend. So make sure they don't
get into it. You know, that's just in the sub plan. And then you have to, sometimes
you got to update rosters. You have to write the plan somewhere for the students to see
just, you know, I don't want the sub to have to try to tell them all this. So I try to
let the students know what they're expected to do. You have to ask your colleagues to

(53:42):
make copies for you. And then you worry the whole day how your students behave and you
know something's going to go wrong. And then, yeah, or, you know, or, or your email inbox
is blowing up because kids can't open this link. This didn't work. You're asking you
questions all in the day. You are taking a mental health. Yep. You're, you're supposed

(54:06):
to just be kind of refreshing and you're getting an email or, you know, a lot of us, let's
be honest, kind of do this to ourselves because we're sitting there having a mental health
day. You've said all your stuff. It should be ready to go. And then what do we do? We
text our next door neighbor, our teacher friend and say, Hey, how are my classes going? Right.
Well, you know, the principal had to come down a second period because apparently the

(54:30):
sub asked a kid to do this and the kid got all mad and you're like, Oh gosh, you know,
and we worry, is this going to be put back on us? Like, are we going to get maybe fussed
at by the principles or, or looked at or our colleagues? You know, the worst thing too
is that the fear is, Oh man, what if I take this day? Cause I need it, but then they can't

(54:53):
get a sub. And now my colleagues have to cover my class. Is me taking this sick day or mental
health day now cause one of my colleagues to need a mental health day. It's back to
that war with them, that inner turmoil. I need this day, but if I take it, that's going
to hurt my team or negatively impact another teacher who's going to have to cover for me,

(55:18):
make up for that, which goes, that also goes back to teacher shortages too. And how that
adds to our fatigue because we don't have enough subs to cover the vacancies. So we're
calling teachers to work during their planning. So now I'm covering a class. I mean, it's
just, man, you know, you can see it as this, you know, self serving just chaos monkey of

(55:42):
I never get a break. I never have, you know, any kind of true downtime where I can relax.
Cause even when I've taken my mental health day, I mean, formally gone through the process
of taking a day off for getting the kind of rest and relaxation that I need. We can never,
ever truly escape. Absolutely. Man. Yeah. You really can't also chaos monkey is my favorite

(56:08):
progressive punk band. If it would be a real punk band. And when you're taking this day,
you know, some of the fears we have is, do I have enough sick days left to stay home?
You know, again, teachers naturally thinking about others. It's just kind of how we're
coded, how we're wired. You know, we have so many sick days you can actually take and

(56:30):
we're sitting there like, let's say, especially if you are sick mental health's one thing,
cause you kind of just boom, make the decision. But if you're, if you're getting sick, even,
you're like, do I have enough days? Is one of my kids going to get sick? And then I have
to take off for them. Should I do this or will my principal be angry if I call in sick?
We've all heard stories of principals, you know, they're great people. They do a great

(56:50):
job. You know, there's horror stories with everything. Like, will they, again, will they
be a little annoyed with me? Will be a little, the relationship get a little chilly cause
of this, uh, teacher guilt. Number one thing right there, you said most useless. I loved
how you said that one of the most useless emotions we have, this self-inflicted guilt
of, you know, should I just load up on Nyquil? And so I'm there for my students. Cause remember

(57:11):
teaching as a profession of the soul, we care. And am I being selfish? Cause I got, you know,
kind of a sore throat and a stuffy head. Will that hurt my students if I'm not there? You
know, are, are they at a crucial junction and learning? You know, if I'm really sick right
now, but man, we are on the cusp of getting this topic. We are almost there. I felt them

(57:34):
getting it yesterday. And if I missed today, will that set me back and then blow up all
my plans? And then like you said, can we find a sub? Will I be putting my colleagues in
the bath spot?
I think this is kind of worst case scenario. So you wake up in the middle of the night
or in the morning and you're just wrecked. I mean, you're sick. It's on you. Could be
feverish, whatever it is, but you have a plan. You weren't expecting this. So you didn't

(57:57):
do the front end preparation. You know, the lesson planning, the sub pieces for all the
classes, contacting your team to let them know. Now you're just, you're just sick. So
you're now at this binary point where I know I'm sick, but ironically it's going to be
easier for me to make it through. So now we're doing that. They're definitely not performing

(58:24):
at our best, but we have defaulted to, I just need to survive this day because it's going
to take way more energy, effort, communication and execution to put in a sub day to just
not show up at work than to roll out of bed, crawl to my car, get in just so I can be a

(58:48):
warm body that says, Hey, Hey friends, I'm here today. I mean, it's, but that's true
man for a lot of people.
A lot of people, like, yeah, absolutely. A lot of people might be like, well, that's
why they have sub folders. We're going back to that crucial learning. You set your sub
folders up with just some activities, but again, if they're at that point and you wake

(59:08):
up feeling awful and you're like, I can't give them what's in that sub folder. Yes,
I put something for this unit, but it's, it's, it's kind of what we covered. It's just going
to be a waste of day. And I'll tell you, you're, you know, my wife's teacher, your wife's a
teacher. You know, we both been teachers literally. How many times have you seen any of those

(59:30):
people or heard your friends? They wake up, they feel awful and they still drive to work
so they can make copies. My wife has done that. She has driven 20 minutes to work, gotten
up. Yeah, I still got to go in. I just got to do, I just got to do this. And then I'll
be back. Right. So they put on the sweat and the head scarf and you know, the hoodie and

(59:52):
just roll in to kind of do this, you know, in ninja mode, get in, get out. I'm like,
you got to do right. And now, so, I mean, you're exhausted, you're fatigued, you're
sick and you're still doing the thing that a lot of other people don't have to do. You
still had to go to work just so you can come back and rest and not go to work. That's tough.

(01:00:13):
I mean, that, that leans the calculus to, I'm just going to go in. Right. Why, while
you're there, you know, you end up, you know, helping a kid, taking them to the guidance
office, you know, carrying something else for someone down on your way. I mean, it's
just like, right. You walk in, now you're seeing, oh, you're here today. No, I'm not
really here. I'm getting ready. Oh, it reminds me it's a whole thing, but I love that little

(01:00:36):
anecdote there because it's so true. I just got to pop in for a few minutes and make these
copies and give them to my team. And I'm like, you've got a 101 degree. Right. Yeah. You
shouldn't be anywhere. You might be hallucinating right now. You know, it reminds me of you
said, you just got to, you end up a kid or a teacher sees you. It reminds me of the movie
clerks. Isn't this your day off? Yeah. It's supposed to be my day off, but there you're
there anyway. And everybody's asking like, oh, you're here. Like, I'm not really here.

(01:00:59):
I'm trying to get out the door. I thought you weren't here today. I thought you were.
Yeah. Right. I'm just, I'm trying to make sure everything goes smoothly so I can feel
like death, but then also not have to get a text that third period, you know, destroyed
the room in a mini rebellion. You know, I don't want that to happen. Then make me feel
worse. Exactly. I don't, I don't want to walk in to post chaos. So I'm trying to control.

(01:01:22):
That's really what it is. I mean, ultimately is I need this place when I step back into
it, you know, to have a semblance of what it was before I left, you know, I don't want
to walk into the aftermath of, you know, a hurricane and just see what this place looks
like. And that's also another part. So I feel like we've kind of hit that man. We've, we've
really dug into, you know, fatigue, that inner turmoil. Let's talk about some practical strategies,

(01:01:49):
man. What are, what are things we can do to start fighting this exhaustion? And we've
dropped a couple of them in there. I mean, we've peppered a few, but what are some of
these tactics, these tools, these strategies that educators can put in their backpack in
order to fight this exhaustion? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about ways we can fight

(01:02:11):
it. Things we can do to mitigate it and be just hopefully trying to make ourselves a
little healthier. So some of the strategies we can do, there's, there's key strategies
in combating exhaustion, especially here in education. There's a couple of different areas,
you know, three big categories. We got physical wellbeing, we have stress management, we have

(01:02:32):
work life balance. So under the physical thing, yeah, under the physical thing, we have, you
know, a healthy diet. Some of these seem really simple, but they work healthy diet, hydration,
regular exercise, quality sleep, stress management. We got mindfulness practices, time management.
We talked a lot about it at the war at home, especially breaks and then work life balance

(01:02:57):
in that bucket. We've got set boundaries. We talked a lot about that in the war at home
episode. If you haven't listened to it, jump on, listen to that. I think it would really
be helpful for your life at home with your families and spouses. And then obviously work
life hobbies and interests, you know, dedicate time to those. So are there any of those you
want to really hit Ryan?
Oh, I mean, I think you got to start at the top of that list though, with the physical

(01:03:19):
wellbeing piece, you know, I founded Fit Leaders more than a decade ago, you know, approximately
2013, we began to rally people around this idea of live better, lead better. So this
is an educator's, you know, fitness group that's just about mindfulness. It's about,

(01:03:41):
you know, taking care of ourselves. It's about supporting others and encouraging them on
this kind of journey. But I love those bullets there, healthy diet, hydration, regular exercise,
quality sleep. I mean, those four pillars right there, if you can get your head around
them, create routines, you know, or practices that are going to work for you that can be

(01:04:06):
sustainable, you know, a healthy diet, the what we put in into our body in terms of food,
nutrition impacts us in so many different ways. So I think the reality is we have to
think of educators now as I mean, these quasi athletes, you know, you are training for a

(01:04:28):
job that's going to demand so much that you need to really prepare yourself just to be
just as an athlete would so that you can optimize your performance so that you can stay in the
game as long as you want to. And you can really live and work more like a maverick than a

(01:04:53):
martyr. Exactly. And that's what I really want people to kind of to kind of grab on
to. And we are trying to build and help mavericks. We want to be those who say my profession
will be respected, right, the work that I put into it, you know, will be perceived as
professional and in turn, command the kind of respect that I deserve. I mean, that's

(01:05:17):
the mindset that we want our teachers to have. So in order to do that, man, we have got to
optimize our physical well being practices in order to live, work, find joy at that kind
of level. So it is all about taking care of yourself and what you put into your body.

(01:05:37):
It is a as a amateurish neuroscientist wrote a lot of my book, wrote a lot about the brain
science and stuff. I look at that first list, the physical well being, you know, and we're
not talking about being physically well kept. So you have a beach body with a six pack.

(01:05:58):
To me, this all of these bullets go towards chemical regulation in your brain. Like you
said, it's an athlete. They have their body as a high powered machine and they are keeping
it honed to do that. You know, obviously our profession less physical, but by doing these
things, it's not to just look great, which that is a nice byproduct. If you're doing
these things, you probably look and feel better. It's the getting your brain in that proper

(01:06:22):
state to be able to deal with this, to have a shield against exhaustion, you know, healthy
diet, you're eating the right food. So you don't have energy drops and spikes, you know,
that way your brain can stay focused on not letting that fatigue creep in hydration. Again,
keeping your body at that right level. So it's not just like dragging and also hydrating

(01:06:43):
water breaks down or, you know, it helps to break down cortisol. You know, like what you
said,
Dr. Justin Marchegiani Yeah, does drinking water literally drinking water and going,
going to the bathroom, you know, because you've drank so much water literally lowers your
Dr. Justin Marchegiani Yeah. So you're not feeling some of those things that that chemical
causes the irregular exercise. Now you're increasing endorphins in your brain. You're

(01:07:04):
doing all that and quality sleep. That's when your brain, a lot of people think, oh, it's,
you know, I need sleep to help my body feel rested to get my mind. Well, when you sleep,
that's when your brain flushes many of those negative chemicals. It literally is time for
sure. I mean, you're right. Your brain does that white, right? That kind of brain scan
white dumps what you don't need moves the other stuff back to long term memory throughout

(01:07:28):
that REM and deep sleep, you know, interval so important, man, the brain needs. Yeah,
it's like, it's kind of the same as not changing your engine oil. Eventually your brain gums
up. It just kind of has residue from those chemicals and you're going to get that and
it'll be harder to get to get normal. Let's stick on the brain just for a second, because
I think when we talk about fatigue, you know, that tiredness feeling, but specifically fatigue,

(01:07:53):
it can be physical, but it can also just feel just mentally, right? Just this almost fog,
brain fog will kind of like to give it an image. You know, you've got that brain fog
and I want to key in on hydration, you know, just for a second. It wasn't too long ago,
man, a few years back, you know, when I learned what the word breakfast meant or why we call

(01:08:15):
why we call it breakfast, you know, and that is to break the fast. You've been asleep.
I see their quality sleep. We want to aim for seven to nine hours. So let's say we hit
the upper end of that, man, I got nine hours last night. So you have fasted for nine or
more hours, right? You are essentially dehydrated. You're dehydrated. You wake up that way. So

(01:08:37):
many of us go straight from waking up dehydrated and we go to that first pull of coffee. Well,
we know that coffee dehydrates us. So you're now already dehydrated and you're going to
hit the accelerator on that. Man, I'm going to dehydrate myself even more. Let's stop

(01:09:02):
that practice. And as soon as we get up, we're going to have our first pint of water. So
16 ounces. And my recommendation would be you fill up that glass the night before. So
fill up that glass of water and let it sit out on the, on the counter. We have a little

(01:09:23):
island in our kitchen. I fill up my glass of water, 16 ounces, and I set it there on
the island. It's waiting for me first thing in the morning when I get up. And now it's
room temp. So it's real easy to go down. Doesn't give me that little bit of brain freeze when
I try to drink it too fast and it's painful and it already tastes, ugh. But it's warm

(01:09:48):
room temp, water, hydration, 16 ounces. First thing, what have I done? I've just told my
brain good morning in a very warm, welcoming way. Now have that coffee, but get that 16
ounces of water. We used to call it in Fit Leaders universe. We called it pound to pint.

(01:10:11):
So you would pound that pint of water, 16 ounces. First thing upon wake up, get that
brain hydrated immediately so you can start thinking, processing, moving.
Yeah, absolutely. When we started hanging out, we were, you were, you and I were talking
about that and you told me that and I've started doing it. I literally have it on my dresser

(01:10:36):
sitting there a lot of times and I'll just chug it even before I get in the shower. That
way it's there. I'm, it's starting to flush through my system. So I'm showering in the
morning before work. I've already had that water. So now when I get out of the shower,
I can make that coffee. I haven't, I don't feel like I'd haven't had my coffee. I'm still
getting my coffee at the same time. I'm not substituting that, but I've already had that
water while I'm kind of getting my get ready process. So my brain just, I've felt so much

(01:11:00):
more clear in the mornings just doing that. And again, yeah, you know, you've heard that
story about it's, it's maybe an admiral, somebody in the military, they've got that thing. First
thing in the morning, make your bed. You know, you hear people and that, that gives you that,
that first checklist item of the day. I'm not that kind of guy, but I am first thing
in the morning, drink your pint of water, drink your 16 ounces. Cause to me, that's

(01:11:22):
how you start the day. And the day has now started. I've had my pint of water. I'm already
ahead of the game. Let's go. Everything turned on, man. Wake up, drink that pint, hydrate
your brain to get started and thinking on the right foot. You know, I think next for
me to kind of segue pretty quickly would be that stress management, that mindfulness piece.

(01:11:46):
This has taken me a long time to really get my head around, but personally, I think I've
made some inner strides on what that mindfulness, that balance, you know, looks for me and how
we can adopt these practices, you know, like yoga, like meditation, like, you know, programmed

(01:12:07):
stretching protocols that not only help, you know, with soreness, especially as we age,
but also put us, you know, into this relaxed, calm mind state while we can connect with
our breath, be in the present and really experience a little bit of pure consciousness. I mean,

(01:12:29):
connecting with our authentic selves before we get ourselves into the day. So, you know,
that sounds big, nebulous, weird. Can I do that? So let me kind of simplify it, you know,
here for a little bit. There are so many apps right now, you know, whether they're apps,
you know, whether they're YouTube videos, where you can find guided meditation. I use

(01:12:53):
an app, it's Binaural Beats, you know, it's Brain FM. I use that app. It's got guided
and unguided meditations. So when I'm doing some stretching protocols and I do those three
times a week, really focusing on lower back, you know, I'm going to do that unguided meditation.
It's just, it's just nice Binaural Beats, low frequency that's getting me into the stretching

(01:13:18):
mindset. But when I finish that 20 minutes, I go right into another 20 minutes of guided
meditation. I do this lying down. So now I'm lying down completely flat, relaxed. I mean,
I'm just in my zone, eyes closed, listening to this guided meditation and connecting with

(01:13:42):
my breath to be in the present. Friends, when I tell you that alone, that practice right
there, 20 minutes of intentional stretching, followed by 20 minutes of guided meditation
using a free app has been a game changer for my anxiety, how I perceive things, my thought

(01:14:09):
processes, creativity, idea generation. I mean, it's truly, truly something that I'm
inspired about and want to help others on their journey of finding the kind of mindfulness
practices that work for them. I mean, sorry, bro, I had to stomp on that for a minute because
that's really, really a powerful tool if people can use it the right way.
Absolutely. I love that. And remember, we're talking about if you do that in the morning

(01:14:33):
or if you find time to do it, doesn't have, you know, you do it in the morning. If you
can just find time to do that, to get your brain trained that you're going to connect
with your breath, that you're going to center yourself and just feel that that's fighting
what we talked about earlier of being in that constant fight or flight. You are now restarting
your brain. You're saying, Hey, we are able to look at things calmly. We're able to take

(01:14:56):
a moment and just breathe. You mentioned that app. I've used this before. An app is a head
space. I'm sure you've heard about that. It's a great one. And that's it for anybody just
starting this. Also, it's a good one. It does little 10 minute things. And during it'll
talk to you and say, Hey, it's okay. If you're doing this, you're sitting completely still

(01:15:17):
and you're just kind of breathing and feeling your feet on the floor, then feeling your
legs and your bottom in your chair and kind of while focusing on your breathing. You know,
I love that app because it understands a lot of times it's for beginners. So it says, if
you're sitting still like that and you kind of dot not off, that's okay. You'll get through
that part. You know, like these things, I think we need to stop, especially in America,

(01:15:38):
being afraid of mindfulness, being afraid of that type of meditation. It is an ancient
practice and in America, we're like, ah, that's kind of an Eastern thing. It's weird. It's
not weird. It is again, it's centering yourself. It is our brain is our, is our co-pilot and
why not connect with it? Why not get that co-pilot as calm and as ready and creative

(01:16:01):
to perceive things as possible. It doesn't make sense.
And because man, we kind of know why you said, you know, why don't we, we kind of know why
we, we did not touch on this one earlier when we were going through those list of, you know,
symptoms and issues, but social media was one of those that we just chose not to jump
on at that time. But what we have, what the practice we've adopted now is to fill in our

(01:16:26):
gaps. You know, when we have a little bit of downtime or it's time to chill, it's time
to relax, whatever that looks like, or we're just waiting in line for something, you know,
we fill that void now with social media, with our scroll. So that's become our default. That's
our baseline. Just getting back to that. So what we're asking people to do is actually

(01:16:49):
pretty challenging. It is a behavioral modification instead of defaulting to your phone, to social
media, to the doom scroll. We're going to ask you to, to set that down and disconnect
from it and get in touch with your breath, to get in touch with your thoughts, to let

(01:17:12):
those thoughts flow freely and to not judge yourself while it's happening, to inhale deeply
for so many seconds and in turn exhale just as big and release all of that. You know,
I heard one time man recently that when you are drowning, all right, so you're holding

(01:17:40):
your breath, you know, you're underwater, you're now oxygen deprived. And what's happening
is your body is not asking for oxygen. It's not asking for that oxygen to come in. Your
body is trying to release that CO2. Your body is trying to release that trapped toxicity.

(01:18:09):
That's what's killing us because we're not breathing in such a way man to release that
CO2 man, those toxins, those things that can kill us. And that's why it is really important.
You know, I talked about 20 plus 20, that's 40. People are thinking, man, I just don't
have that time in my day, dude. Get real. I mean, that's cool, man. Then let's go to

(01:18:33):
five minutes. I mean, let's break it down to two minutes. Can you sit still, lie down
and for a moment, can you connect two moments, turn it into three where I just focused on
breath, where I had my eyes closed and I let thoughts come and I viewed thoughts as clouds,

(01:18:57):
but in between those clouds, that's me. That's pure consciousness. That's authenticity. That
stuff is challenging, but those kind of challenges impact neuroplasticity. That's what helps
us grow. That's what helps us connect more deeply with ourselves. That's what helps us

(01:19:17):
feel fulfilled. That's powerful stuff, man. Mindfulness for anybody that's looking to
game change their life right now. I'm here to tell you directly, you have the control
to do it. Yes, it's going to be hard. Nothing worthwhile isn't hard, but it is a game changer

(01:19:45):
that you absolutely have that control and ability to do on your own. Start small, start
short, grow it, but do it and do it continuously. Start with two minutes a day and just grow
that out over time. Manage just so many benefits that come in with that. And we'll continue

(01:20:08):
to talk about that as we go forward because I just think mindfulness is a game changer
and we all have the capacity and the ability to do it.
We really do. And it is, you feel so refreshed even after those few minutes that your brain's
kind of done that and work through it. You do feel great. I've done it.
Oh, you do, man. It's special, bro.
It's helped me get through difficult schools. Back when we had 90 minute planning periods,

(01:20:32):
I had that Headspace app. Now I was at a pretty challenging school and I knew that after my
planning I had my most challenging class. So I would, I cut 10 minutes out and I would
do that in my planning. I would expel the guilt about not working on something because
I needed to do this to be better. And it made that class function so much better. It made
me a better teacher because I took those moments and it is powerful.

(01:20:55):
I think going with that kind of wrapping up, Ryan, too, is just, I really like this. It's
five questions we should consider each day. And this kind of goes towards this war within
is end with the mindfulness it connects. Number one, how's my attitude? Number two, how's
my passion? Number three, am I going to give my best today? Number four, do I believe in

(01:21:18):
myself? And number five, will I positively impact others today? I think we focus through
that through all of this we're feeling and, and kind of have that mindfulness. And like
you said, look at those things and really ask ourselves that as we get going, that'll
also help limit this exhaustion within. Because if we have a positive attitude, if we're passionate

(01:21:41):
about which we, what we're doing, which we all are, we know we're going to give our best
today. So just making that the goal. I'm going to do as best as I can today and feel good
about that. You have to believe in yourself. Let's, let's, let's key in there because I
don't want to lose it. You said, and feel good about that. That's the only piece I would
add right now is you've got to answer those five questions judgment free. You know, even

(01:22:05):
if you fall on the negative side of that scale, man, how's my passion today? You know what,
dude, it's right. Know thyself. I woke up and it's real low this morning. Hey, judgment
free zone. Then that's where we start. So here's the silver lining of that. It can only
go what? Let's work on it today. But starting with that mindset, Hey, here's where I am,

(01:22:26):
but I'm not judging myself on that. You got to start somewhere. I'm going to move forward
and it can only improve. Do I believe in myself today? I want to, but I'm struggling. Man,
self honesty, because the easiest person to fool is yourself is such a critical component

(01:22:46):
in overcoming fatigue, anxiety, um, that, you know, that, that inner turmoil, that exhaustion,
the ability to be honest with ourselves and answer these questions without judgment so
that we can begin moving forward to getting better game changer. Absolutely. And believing
in yourself, right? You, we have to believe in ourselves and you know that will I positively

(01:23:13):
impact others today? Yes. That's again, you can go up with that passion. And again, it's
honest. Like, do I believe in myself? You may not that morning, but again, it can only
go up. Why don't you believe in yourself? You're doing a good job. You're doing this
job. You're doing this work. Believe in yourself. If you ask the, your, yourself those five

(01:23:35):
questions, I think it naturally sets us up to understand where we're at, to have that
openness with yourself, to set your goals and then you can go off and your brain is
already able to, and prime to fight the fatigue, to fight the exhaustion, to fight anything
that comes its way. So start with those practice mindfulness, have a healthy diet, get good

(01:23:59):
sleep, hydrate, like we said in the war at home episode, manage your time, you know,
take breaks and set boundaries. All of these things can all help fight exhaustion and especially
exhaustion within. Right. I think this, this was really cool. It's awesome wrapping this
up like going through these three areas. And I think, and I hope we covered some things

(01:24:24):
to one, identify it and, and give some tips and tactics to help combat this thing that
we all feel. And at the very, I mean, at the very least we're letting educators know you
are not alone. Absolutely not. So many people suffer from these symptoms, from exhaustion,
from anxiety, from imposter syndrome. I mean, so many people share these struggles and we

(01:24:49):
want to, you know, we want us, we want to connect us, especially our community, educational
warfare listeners. We want to connect us in these ways that these struggles are shared.
You are not alone. There are tactics, tools, strategies out there to help you overcome
them. We've ran through that laundry list today, dig in, relisten to the episode, but

(01:25:11):
we are going to continue these kinds of conversations because this is the real work, the underpinning
of how we get educators to perform at their best, to feel their best and to live their
best. And ultimately that's what we want because that's how we impact kids the most. That's
how we really drive this thing forward that we've all grown to love. That is education.

(01:25:36):
That's how we make it great friends. So it has been a good discussion today, Doc. Appreciate
being on this journey with you and looking forward to pushing these conversations forward
as we continue. Absolutely. Yeah. It's out there now. Remember,
big things have small beginnings and talking about it, being aware, this is how we all
tackle it, you know, share this conversation, you know, say, Hey, I've been feeling exhausted.

(01:25:59):
Talk to your neighbor across to have you, you know, tell them about the episodes. Let's
listen, let's talk together, email us. You know, the war with exhaustion is obviously
going to rage on. We have now tackled it. We've put it out there. We're starting the
conversation. We can chip away at it. We've taken steps and given some strategies. Keep
working at it. Keep fighting. I like this visual that I'm seeing now, you know, going

(01:26:23):
back to the beginning of this episode, you know, I'm seeing this octagon and on one side,
you've got teachers and on the other side, you've got nurses and it's the war, you know,
for exhaustion. And it's these two in the squared circle. And it's like, man, just who
has it tougher? Let's be honest. So we do want to hear from our nursing friends out

(01:26:43):
there. Don't forget, jump into our mailbag episodes. Give us your anecdotes. Give us
your pushback. Give us your hot takes. I mean, we want that raw, authentic truth from all
of our stakeholders, you know, parents, community partners, anybody in education's ecosphere,
educational warfare is for you. So we want to hear from you and we'll address those topics.

(01:27:08):
We'll address your comments in our mailbag episodes as well. So send in those hot takes.
We're excited to hear. Absolutely. Big shout out to Doc. Thank you, man. Thanks for leading
this conversation today. It's always fun. Look forward to continuing. Yes. Thank you
so much for being here. Remember next week we'll have a mailbag over this. So shoot us
your comments. Shoot us any strategies you have. Something we didn't mention that you

(01:27:28):
fight it. Let us know so we can share that in that episode and, and crowdsource this.
We're all working at it together. So next episode will be a mailbag episode. Email us
at educationalwarfare.pod at gmail.com. And we are going to be there and we hope to hear
from you again for my partner, Dr. Jackson. Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank

(01:27:49):
you for being here and thank you for being a part of the fight.

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