TM4T Stress Armoury 48 - One with nature

(Under development)

This, again, is a technique which is supported solely by anecdotal evidence. However, it does seem to be endorsed by a lot of (I am tempted to say 'otherwise sensible') teachers. At this point, we need to restate a key point regarding the stress armoury: there is no simple, single answer to the problem of stress in teaching. What works for one teacher doesn't work for another, and the fact that something is ridiculed by Teacher A does not mean that it won't be a godsend for Teacher B.

The idea is to focus your lifestyle away from the modern, the industrial, and the urban, and towards the natural, the organic, and the rural. This may involve a number of initiatives:

Now as you know, anecdote does not lend itself to analysis, so these hints are based more on common sense than research:

- activity is an important aspect of this 'technique', so watching Alan Titchmarsh will have limited benefit; you need to get out and do something (walk, dig, etc)

- 'water' is frequently mentioned in the context of stress-reduction, so rivers, waves, waterfalls... all good.

- the seasons are often cited as mood-triggers, and actively engaging in the weather cycle seems to be one way of offsetting seasonal blues: kicking piles of leaves, trudging muddy lanes, snow-related japes...