Speech-language pathologists, how does the thought of returning back to school make you feel? Do you feel a tense knot in your stomach or a joyful flutter? We have heard a mixture of both - exciting and hectic at the same time.

Not that we don't love our profession, but when the new school year is approaching, our thoughts are constantly flickering back and forth between anxiety and excitement, which often go hand in hand, right?

To help you manage those feelings and ease back into the rhythm of helping our students, we have prepared five simple yet effective tips that will set you up for starting the new year on the right foot.

1. Brain Dump Your To-Dos

The first days of school (and even weeks) are important as they set out the tone for the rest of the year. So, to ease back the transition, try to get yourself prepared in advance.

As we are close to the beginning of the new school year, you might start worrying about all the things you want to do - preparing your office, reviewing your caseload, making materials, connecting with other staff, etc.
And sometimes, the feeling of overwhelm is daunting and even paralyzing that we do nothing but worry. A great technique that helps smooth the transition and free up some mental energy is the brain dump.

The brain dump is exactly as it sounds - you grab a piece of paper and list all of your to-dos. Once you have all to-dos on a paper, you can prioritize and actually start crossing them off your list instead of just worrying.

Whether you feel overwhelmed or not, listing all of the things before the new school year helps you make the transition smoother.

2. Create a timeline

Once you have brain-dumped everything, you can sort your to-dos by the urgent, necessary, and not so important ones. When you sort everything out, you can create a timeline and plan what task should be completed by when. This way, you will have greater control and peace of mind that you are in charge of your schedule. It's important to make your schedule realistic and make enough room for taking rest and good self-care.

3. Eat that frog

Another great productivity hack is to complete your most urgent task first thing in the morning. This will give you a sense of empowerment and will energize you to complete all other to-dos with a smile. You can read more about this technique here.

4. Make it fun

Don't we all need things to look forward to? Everything is easier with a bit more joy sprinkled in. So let's try to add fun to the first week, month, and heck, the full school year. Think about what makes things easier and makes you happy. Or puts you into a "flow" state. Maybe you love your coffee. How about meeting up once a week to do lesson planning at a cafe with another SLP. Maybe you are a nature person (like me:). Maybe think of some creative ways to do therapy in your school's garden, and if they don't have one, maybe that is a fun goal to try to add for the year to do with your students. There is so much language and processing that can be worked on with projects like this!

5. Take good self-care

You put a lot of energy into helping others. And it's essential that you do the same for yourself! I know this is something we talk about all of the time and might get on your nerves to hear again and again, but we are not going to stop with this one. If you don't take a moment to meditate, relax, move, sing in the shower, read a book, or whatever it's that makes your soul happy, you run the risk of burning out. And we need you! In the field of speech pathology, your students, families, and schools need you to continue to make a huge difference in other people's lives. You can read more about the importance of self-care and how you can actually practice it here.

The bottom line

You can make your return back to school smooth and easy by applying the above techniques. Start with baby steps - one thing at a time. And remember, we are always here for you. If you have any questions or we can help you in any way, just send us a message here.

SLPs, Here Are 5 Ways to Ease Back into School