April 2, 2025 • 12 mins
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Teaching while carrying a heavy mental load is exhausting, but there are simple, powerful ways to restore your energy and reconnect with yourself. If you’re an educator feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or emotionally drained, this podcast is your space to breathe, reflect, and reignite your passion for teaching.
Many teachers struggle with stress, anxiety, and work-life balance, especially those juggling lesson planning, parent meetings, student accommodations, and caregiving responsibilities at home. But self-care isn’t selfish—it’s the key to being the best educator you can be.
In each episode, you'll discover:
✔️ Mindfulness practices to ease stress in seconds
✔️ Strategies to quiet your inner critic and embrace self-compassion
✔️ The power of affirmations to shift your mindset
✔️ Small but impactful daily habits for emotional resilience
✔️ Why prioritizing your well-being makes you a stronger teacher and role model
The most generous thing you can do for your students is take care of yourself. Let this podcast be your weekly reminder to recharge, refocus, and step into your power as an educator and human first.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episode, and if this show resonates with you, please leave a review—it helps more teachers find the support they deserve!
Stay empowered,
Jen
Let’s keep the conversation going! Find me at:
empowerededucator.com/resources
Instagram: @jenrafferty_
Facebook: Empowered Educator Faculty Room
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Jen Rafferty (00:00):
Are you feeling exhausted by the
constant demands of teaching?
Do you find yourself wonderingif there's a way to balance both
your career and your well-beingwithout burning out?
Welcome to Unlock your TeachingPotential, your permission slip
to hit the brakes, recharge andreignite your joy for teaching
and living.
(00:20):
I'm Dr Jen Rafferty, formermusic teacher, author, tedx
speaker and founder of EmpoweredEducator, and I've been where
you are exhausted, overwhelmedand just trying to get through
the day, making it all work.
So each week, I'll bring youshort, powerful episodes with
actionable tools to help youreclaim your energy, set
(00:41):
boundaries and step into yourfull potential, both in and out
of your role as an educator.
So take a breath and let's divein.
It's time to unlock yourteaching potential, because the
world needs you at your best.
So I was having brunch thismorning with two dear friends
(01:03):
who I used to work with at whenI was teaching at a school in
central New York, and we weretalking about this underlying
buzz of anxiety that everybody'sfeeling, that sometimes it's
easy to ignore, but especiallyrecently, with everything that's
been going on, particularly inour politics, it has become just
(01:27):
louder and louder and it'smaking all of the things that
used to seem small, much bigger,and moving through your day
like that is exhausting.
We talked about just the mentalload that we carry with us,
particularly if you are ateacher and you're also a parent
(01:49):
or you're somebody who's caringfor your own aging parents.
There's a lot to hold and itfeels heavy and exhausting.
You know, when you're in aclass we were talking about
being an elementary schoolteacher with one of my friends
and all of the differentaccommodations that needs to be
(02:10):
made, and this person has alesson and this person needs to
take their medication and weneed to have this conversation
with this parent by the end ofthe day.
And there's this meeting thatpopped up that we didn't know
about, plus the things that aregoing on at home, reminding your
kids to take their instrumentsto school, because it's an A day
and you still have all thesepapers to grade, but you're not
(02:31):
sure how to do it in the timelyfashion that you need to, and it
just keeps getting heavier andthe brain fog can feel very real
, can feel very real.
And if you're resonating withthis overload of just mental
resources, or you're out ofmental resources for this
(02:56):
cognitive load that you feelthat you are carrying, do
yourself a favor and just stop.
Just stop for a minute, for 30seconds, for 10 seconds.
Just stop for a minute for 30seconds, for 10 seconds, and put
your hand to your heart andtake a couple breaths, and that
might feel wildly uncomfortable,but if you continue to go at
that pace of continuing to addthings to your mental load and
(03:20):
not ever stopping to take anintentional breath, your body is
going to stop it all for you.
I read recently just thisbeautiful poem by Andrea Gibson,
and if you haven't listened orread to any of Andrea Gibson's
stuff, I highly recommend you do.
It's quite beautiful and, ifI'm being honest, I can't read
(03:43):
through any of it withoutsobbing myself.
But one of the educators we'vebeen working with, laura I'm
going to give you a shout outright now introduced me to
Andrea and their poem aboutgoosebumps and I absolutely fell
in love with it and I've beenreading their stuff ever since.
But this poem caught me becauseit was so poignant.
(04:04):
The poem is called diagnosis.
It goes I suffer fromunrequited self-love.
I love myself but I don't lovemyself back.
Oof, that speaks to my soul,you know, and when we talk about
self-love, I think sometimespeople feel it's too ooey gooey
(04:25):
or the emotions are too much, orit's a little cheesy or corny.
But self love is recognizingthat cognitive load.
In this example, recognizingthat you don't feel okay,
recognizing and giving yourselfgrace that it's okay to not feel
okay and then doing somethingabout it.
(04:46):
Feel okay and then doingsomething about it.
The doing something about it isan act of self-love.
And when you do something aboutit, the act of self-love is not
just for you.
It is about everyone else inyour sphere.
It's about everyone else thatyou come into contact with.
(05:07):
It's about your students, it'sabout your own kids, your
partner, your own parents, yourfriends, because you are the
variable in all of thosesituations and while there's so
much out of our control, yourchoices and how you show up is
the only thing that's in yourcontrol.
(05:27):
That's an act of radicalself-love.
That's your agency and that'struly where empowerment comes in
.
We so often forget that we evenhave a choice.
We just go on feeling tired andwe complain about it and we get
up and we do it again the nextday.
But what is that costing you?
(05:48):
And particularly in anenvironment where our students
are learning how to be humansfrom us, we get to show them
what it looks like to loveourselves.
You know, what's true is, if wewant our students to know their
self-worth, we need to knowours.
And something like this juststopping for a few seconds, hand
(06:11):
to heart, bringing your energyback to you, becoming aware of
where your body is, feeling thestress, breathing into that
space it can be really thatsimple, and so often we
undervalue that simple act ofbreathing.
You take about 23,000 breathsevery single day.
(06:34):
How many of those areintentional?
What would happen if youstopped just a few times
throughout the day, hand toheart, took some intentional
breaths, really got connectedwith your body?
Where are you feeling thestress and breathing into that
space?
What a gift you're giving toyourself.
I talked on the podcast a fewweeks ago about refusing to
(06:55):
become distracted from yourimportant work, and all of the
stressors are distractions and,of course, some of them have
very real implications.
But the stress that you feelinside of your body becomes the
distraction, because it's howyou show up to the external
(07:19):
stressors.
I could do a whole series aboutself-love.
But besides the awareness,besides the reconnection to self
, besides the act of choosing,which is all an act of self-love
, another aspect of this isunderstanding what your inner
(07:42):
monologue is saying, your innervoice, about what you're
experiencing matters, and so,while paying attention to your
body, paying attention to thestress and the tension breathing
into, that is one piece of it.
Another piece I want to talkabout today are what we call,
here at Empowered Educator, yourinner bully or your inner
(08:03):
bestie.
And when you consider the voicethat is going on inside of your
head, the words that you useabout yourself, ask yourself is
this the voice of my inner bullyor is this the voice of my
inner bestie?
Your inner bully says you'renot good enough.
Your inner bully says this istoo hard, this is too much,
(08:23):
you'll never get through this.
Your inner bully sayseverything sucks anyway, so why
bother?
Your voice doesn't matter.
Nothing you're doing matters.
And what's true about yourinner bully is actually the same
as every other bully they justwant to be loved, they want to
be heard, they want to be healed.
(08:47):
And while we're not going intothat piece in this particular
episode, it is important thatyou recognize who's at the
microphone, because on the otherside is your inner bestie, who
is your best friend, who lovesyou so hard, who wants you to be
amazing, because they know thatyou already are amazing.
(09:11):
They say things like you can dothis.
You are so capable, you've gotthis.
Remember who you are.
You're incredible.
Your voice matters.
You are enough.
What you have to say matters.
You're doing great work.
I love you, no matter what.
Recognize when your inner bestieisn't at the microphone and
(09:34):
make an active choice, becauseit's so easy to become
distracted by the stressors thatyour inner bully is the one
that takes the microphone moreoften.
So, as another act of self-love, as another exercise in
self-love, start payingattention to your inner
monologue.
How do you speak to yourself?
(09:55):
And one of the things we loveto practice here at Empowered
Educator is take a marker andwrite on your mirror you are
amazing, you are enough, you'vegot this.
Whatever message speaks to you,but that way, you see that
message every single time youlook in the mirror.
And if there are other peoplewho are looking in that mirror
too, you get to say to themyou're welcome, because
(10:18):
everyone's got an inner bully.
Love yourself enough toremember that you can
consciously choose who's at themicrophone.
Love yourself enough to giveyourself grace when you fall
short, because this type of workis the journey.
This is how we show up and bethe best educator that we can be
(10:40):
for the kids in front of us whoare looking to us, especially
during these difficult times.
So we're going to end thepodcast today with a card from
the Empowered Educator card deck, and this card says oh, what if
you took care of your wellbeing the same way you take care
of your teeth?
That is a great question.
(11:02):
You know.
You think about how much time,energy, money, we spend on our
teeth.
Oh, my gosh, you probably havea particular toothpaste that you
like, particular toothbrushesthat you get.
Hopefully, you change out yourtoothbrushes every once in a
while.
You floss, you makeappointments to go to the
dentist, you get x-rays.
(11:22):
What if we paid that muchattention to our mental health,
to your well-being?
What would change for you?
What would change?
The answer is everything,literally everything, and you
can start right now.
You don't have to wait.
Start now.
Start by using even just one ofthese exercises that I've shared
(11:44):
over the last few minutes asyou're listening, because
everything you do creates aripple effect, whether it's
subconsciously, whether it'sthrough your default or through
your intention, and EmpoweredEducator is about intentionality
.
It's about creating moreconscious awareness of what used
to be subconscious autopilot.
(12:07):
So you get to start today.
Remember the most generousthing that you can do for your
students is take care ofyourself.
So if you found today's episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe
so you never miss a moment ofinspiration.
And if you're loving the show,I be sure to subscribe so you
never miss a moment ofinspiration.
And if you're loving the show,I'd love for you to leave a
(12:27):
review.
This helps more educators likeyou find the space to unlock
their teaching potential too.
Until next time, pleaseremember that you are a gift to
this world, so act accordingly.
See you soon.
Are you feeling exhausted by the
constant demands of teaching?
Do you find yourself wonderingif there's a way to balance both
your career and your well-beingwithout burning out?
Welcome to Unlock your TeachingPotential, your permission slip
to hit the brakes, recharge andreignite your joy for teaching
and living.
(00:20):
I'm Dr Jen Rafferty, formermusic teacher, author, tedx
speaker and founder of EmpoweredEducator, and I've been where
you are exhausted, overwhelmedand just trying to get through
the day, making it all work.
So each week, I'll bring youshort, powerful episodes with
actionable tools to help youreclaim your energy, set
(00:41):
boundaries and step into yourfull potential, both in and out
of your role as an educator.
So take a breath and let's divein.
It's time to unlock yourteaching potential, because the
world needs you at your best.
So I was having brunch thismorning with two dear friends
(01:03):
who I used to work with at whenI was teaching at a school in
central New York, and we weretalking about this underlying
buzz of anxiety that everybody'sfeeling, that sometimes it's
easy to ignore, but especiallyrecently, with everything that's
been going on, particularly inour politics, it has become just
(01:27):
louder and louder and it'smaking all of the things that
used to seem small, much bigger,and moving through your day
like that is exhausting.
We talked about just the mentalload that we carry with us,
particularly if you are ateacher and you're also a parent
(01:49):
or you're somebody who's caringfor your own aging parents.
There's a lot to hold and itfeels heavy and exhausting.
You know, when you're in aclass we were talking about
being an elementary schoolteacher with one of my friends
and all of the differentaccommodations that needs to be
(02:10):
made, and this person has alesson and this person needs to
take their medication and weneed to have this conversation
with this parent by the end ofthe day.
And there's this meeting thatpopped up that we didn't know
about, plus the things that aregoing on at home, reminding your
kids to take their instrumentsto school, because it's an A day
and you still have all thesepapers to grade, but you're not
(02:31):
sure how to do it in the timelyfashion that you need to, and it
just keeps getting heavier andthe brain fog can feel very real
, can feel very real.
And if you're resonating withthis overload of just mental
resources, or you're out ofmental resources for this
(02:56):
cognitive load that you feelthat you are carrying, do
yourself a favor and just stop.
Just stop for a minute, for 30seconds, for 10 seconds.
Just stop for a minute for 30seconds, for 10 seconds, and put
your hand to your heart andtake a couple breaths, and that
might feel wildly uncomfortable,but if you continue to go at
that pace of continuing to addthings to your mental load and
(03:20):
not ever stopping to take anintentional breath, your body is
going to stop it all for you.
I read recently just thisbeautiful poem by Andrea Gibson,
and if you haven't listened orread to any of Andrea Gibson's
stuff, I highly recommend you do.
It's quite beautiful and, ifI'm being honest, I can't read
(03:43):
through any of it withoutsobbing myself.
But one of the educators we'vebeen working with, laura I'm
going to give you a shout outright now introduced me to
Andrea and their poem aboutgoosebumps and I absolutely fell
in love with it and I've beenreading their stuff ever since.
But this poem caught me becauseit was so poignant.
(04:04):
The poem is called diagnosis.
It goes I suffer fromunrequited self-love.
I love myself but I don't lovemyself back.
Oof, that speaks to my soul,you know, and when we talk about
self-love, I think sometimespeople feel it's too ooey gooey
(04:25):
or the emotions are too much, orit's a little cheesy or corny.
But self love is recognizingthat cognitive load.
In this example, recognizingthat you don't feel okay,
recognizing and giving yourselfgrace that it's okay to not feel
okay and then doing somethingabout it.
(04:46):
Feel okay and then doingsomething about it.
The doing something about it isan act of self-love.
And when you do something aboutit, the act of self-love is not
just for you.
It is about everyone else inyour sphere.
It's about everyone else thatyou come into contact with.
(05:07):
It's about your students, it'sabout your own kids, your
partner, your own parents, yourfriends, because you are the
variable in all of thosesituations and while there's so
much out of our control, yourchoices and how you show up is
the only thing that's in yourcontrol.
(05:27):
That's an act of radicalself-love.
That's your agency and that'struly where empowerment comes in
.
We so often forget that we evenhave a choice.
We just go on feeling tired andwe complain about it and we get
up and we do it again the nextday.
But what is that costing you?
(05:48):
And particularly in anenvironment where our students
are learning how to be humansfrom us, we get to show them
what it looks like to loveourselves.
You know, what's true is, if wewant our students to know their
self-worth, we need to knowours.
And something like this juststopping for a few seconds, hand
(06:11):
to heart, bringing your energyback to you, becoming aware of
where your body is, feeling thestress, breathing into that
space it can be really thatsimple, and so often we
undervalue that simple act ofbreathing.
You take about 23,000 breathsevery single day.
(06:34):
How many of those areintentional?
What would happen if youstopped just a few times
throughout the day, hand toheart, took some intentional
breaths, really got connectedwith your body?
Where are you feeling thestress and breathing into that
space?
What a gift you're giving toyourself.
I talked on the podcast a fewweeks ago about refusing to
(06:55):
become distracted from yourimportant work, and all of the
stressors are distractions and,of course, some of them have
very real implications.
But the stress that you feelinside of your body becomes the
distraction, because it's howyou show up to the external
(07:19):
stressors.
I could do a whole series aboutself-love.
But besides the awareness,besides the reconnection to self
, besides the act of choosing,which is all an act of self-love
, another aspect of this isunderstanding what your inner
(07:42):
monologue is saying, your innervoice, about what you're
experiencing matters, and so,while paying attention to your
body, paying attention to thestress and the tension breathing
into, that is one piece of it.
Another piece I want to talkabout today are what we call,
here at Empowered Educator, yourinner bully or your inner
(08:03):
bestie.
And when you consider the voicethat is going on inside of your
head, the words that you useabout yourself, ask yourself is
this the voice of my inner bullyor is this the voice of my
inner bestie?
Your inner bully says you'renot good enough.
Your inner bully says this istoo hard, this is too much,
(08:23):
you'll never get through this.
Your inner bully sayseverything sucks anyway, so why
bother?
Your voice doesn't matter.
Nothing you're doing matters.
And what's true about yourinner bully is actually the same
as every other bully they justwant to be loved, they want to
be heard, they want to be healed.
(08:47):
And while we're not going intothat piece in this particular
episode, it is important thatyou recognize who's at the
microphone, because on the otherside is your inner bestie, who
is your best friend, who lovesyou so hard, who wants you to be
amazing, because they know thatyou already are amazing.
(09:11):
They say things like you can dothis.
You are so capable, you've gotthis.
Remember who you are.
You're incredible.
Your voice matters.
You are enough.
What you have to say matters.
You're doing great work.
I love you, no matter what.
Recognize when your inner bestieisn't at the microphone and
(09:34):
make an active choice, becauseit's so easy to become
distracted by the stressors thatyour inner bully is the one
that takes the microphone moreoften.
So, as another act of self-love, as another exercise in
self-love, start payingattention to your inner
monologue.
How do you speak to yourself?
(09:55):
And one of the things we loveto practice here at Empowered
Educator is take a marker andwrite on your mirror you are
amazing, you are enough, you'vegot this.
Whatever message speaks to you,but that way, you see that
message every single time youlook in the mirror.
And if there are other peoplewho are looking in that mirror
too, you get to say to themyou're welcome, because
(10:18):
everyone's got an inner bully.
Love yourself enough toremember that you can
consciously choose who's at themicrophone.
Love yourself enough to giveyourself grace when you fall
short, because this type of workis the journey.
This is how we show up and bethe best educator that we can be
(10:40):
for the kids in front of us whoare looking to us, especially
during these difficult times.
So we're going to end thepodcast today with a card from
the Empowered Educator card deck, and this card says oh, what if
you took care of your wellbeing the same way you take care
of your teeth?
That is a great question.
(11:02):
You know.
You think about how much time,energy, money, we spend on our
teeth.
Oh, my gosh, you probably havea particular toothpaste that you
like, particular toothbrushesthat you get.
Hopefully, you change out yourtoothbrushes every once in a
while.
You floss, you makeappointments to go to the
dentist, you get x-rays.
(11:22):
What if we paid that muchattention to our mental health,
to your well-being?
What would change for you?
What would change?
The answer is everything,literally everything, and you
can start right now.
You don't have to wait.
Start now.
Start by using even just one ofthese exercises that I've shared
(11:44):
over the last few minutes asyou're listening, because
everything you do creates aripple effect, whether it's
subconsciously, whether it'sthrough your default or through
your intention, and EmpoweredEducator is about intentionality
.
It's about creating moreconscious awareness of what used
to be subconscious autopilot.
(12:07):
So you get to start today.
Remember the most generousthing that you can do for your
students is take care ofyourself.
So if you found today's episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe
so you never miss a moment ofinspiration.
And if you're loving the show,I be sure to subscribe so you
never miss a moment ofinspiration.
And if you're loving the show,I'd love for you to leave a
(12:27):
review.
This helps more educators likeyou find the space to unlock
their teaching potential too.
Until next time, pleaseremember that you are a gift to
this world, so act accordingly.
See you soon.
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