Surviving the first week of term (when it's freezing cold outside!)

As I type this, I'm sitting in a very quiet house on my own, which feels super weird after 3 weeks of noise and fun with my family over the Christmas holidays. 

So, here are 5 things I'm attempting to do this week to ease back into work gently...

1. Allowing time to get back into the rhythm of the working week. For me, that's spending time on admin tasks before I start writing new resources and planning lessons. If you're a tutor and/or teacher, you've probably hit the ground running with lots of lessons, but you can still make it easier for yourself by planning low-prep activities and retrieval practice to revise what you covered last term. Click here for my free retrieval practice ebook if you need some inspiration!

2. Prioritising cosy evenings and sleep. While it can be tempting to dive back into working every evening and marking until all hours, try to resist! We need more rest and sleep during the winter months, and it's far too easy to burn out in January.

3. Celebrating the small wins this week. Managed to clear your email inbox? Got up before 7am? Ate a vegetable?! Acknowledge these little things without worrying too much about what didn't go quite so well. 

4. Moving and taking a moment to breathe. If you can get outside for a short walk during daylight hours, please do it! You will feel 1 million times better! I went for a walk in the snow on Monday morning (see the photo above for evidence haha!), and it was just wonderful and set me up for the day splendidly! Additionally, drop your shoulders, unclench your jaw and take 3 deep breaths. Right now. As you're reading this!

5. Planning something nice for the weekend. It's my birthday this weekend, and I'm planning a lovely walk with my family, some yummy comfort food, and sofa snuggles. That might be your idea of boring hell, so why not grab a couple of friends and go to the pub?! 

Which one are you going to do this week? Or are you going to try all 5?