I participated in the Introduction to SOGI in the K-12 Context workshop, Building Resilience, which I felt was important to me through my previous internship experience. My previous SA discussed this with me during my practicum. In the course of our daily work, we teachers have to face many students with 100% energy, care for them, and help them solve their problems. It is possible that this process will also face a lack of understanding from family members, friends, students, or their parents. All of these things can drain the energy of our teachers. In the long run, it is easy to lose our passion for our careers and our life. It is therefore important to learn how to de-stress and build resilience. The facilitator Michelle Lim introduced the sources of stress, what stress is, and how to deal with it. What struck me the most was that to build resilience we need to complete a stress circle. This requires physical activity, breathing, positive social interaction, laughter, affection, creative expression, and a big cry to complete. Especially for me, I am a very emotionally exposed person and many times my emotions need to be released with tears. Crying is a good process to release emotions, we can let go of our restraints and have a big cry to complete this last part of the circle.
Sounds like a good Pro-D workshop, Chernie! I appreciate the importance of destressing and building resilience, especially for those of us who recognize that we are emotional beings and need to release emotions quite often. Did you also go to any workshops specifically about SOGI and students? I hope the Pro-D day also brought new insights about this important topic.
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