The following is excerpted from School Counselor Side Hustle: How School Counselors and Educators Can Monetize their Time and Talents Beyond the Classroom by Russ Sabella and Stephanie Lerner.
Self-Care
If you are going to balance your side hustle with your full-time job and not burn out or lose your mind in the process, you must practice self-care. Self-care is described by the American Psychological Association as providing adequate attention to one’s own physical and psychological wellness (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001). Self-care is vital for staying mentally and physically healthy while we juggle multiple jobs, family, and any other responsibilities (Scott, 2018). Since you are going to be super busy with both a full-time job and your side hustle work, consider the following list of basic mindsets and behaviors below; a mix of both fun self-care, wellness self-care, and self-care that is just good old mindless relaxation:
- Schedule It. What do you love to do? Is it reading in bed all day, going for a spa day, Netflix binging on the couch, brunching at your favorite restaurant, or doing nothing? Whatever it is, schedule it in your calendar daily, weekly, monthly, or however much you need it. This is an appointment with yourself. You might use the “set appointment as recurring” feature of your electronic calendar to remind you to have fun periodically. Your self-care day is the day that it’s okay to call in the babysitter if you have young children. Or just encourage your kids to do what you love (or nothing) alongside you!
- Work in Some Restful Sleep and Healthy Food. Research shows that these are two of the most important factors for optimal health (e.g., Buysse, 2014; Michie, Abraham, Whittington, McAteer, & Gupta, 2009). Unfortunately, when combining a side hustle with a full-time job, sleep and healthy eating are typically the first to go! For that reason, make it your mission to schedule seven to nine hours of sleep for yourself most nights. Additionally, it is imperative to get in at least one healthy meal a day, so decide when you can fit that in, and then use whatever means necessary to make it happen. Some ways to squeeze in a healthy eating option once a day are utilizing a low-cost service that sends you healthy foods per your suggestions like Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, or Plated. Also, you might decide to pack your lunch from some healthy dinner leftovers the night before or picking up a fresh salad or healthy greens breakfast smoothie on the way to work every day. Finally, consider joining scores of other professionals who engage in food prepping. As evidenced by their Facebook photos, some school counselors have discovered the power of food prepping on Sundays. This means that they do the legwork of preparing or “prepping for short” a week’s worth of meals before the week begins. In this way, they have access to healthy food that is also quick. Some school counselors cook all their meals for the week, freeze, and then reheat on the day they are eating. Others don’t fully prepare each meal but, instead, work on the time-consuming steps of a recipe such as cutting up fruits and vegetables, measuring portions, baking, and portioning out healthy snacks. Food prep can be anything. You don’t necessarily need to cook all your meals completely. It can mean chopping up onions, peppers, or other vegetables ahead of time for recipes. Washing fruits and vegetables, so they are ready for snacks. Portioning out nuts, crackers, or other food items for snacks. Cutting up chicken or beef to be recipe ready. Whatever is going to work (Hodges, 2017; Kresge, 2014). Check out these food prepping recipes for the week on Pinterest at http://bit.ly/food-prepping.
- Social Support: Call a Friend or Family Member. The more we work and spend time with our electronics, the less we interact with other humans. Research shows that human interaction is crucial to our mental well-being (Kraut et al., 1998; Turkle, 2017). So, think of your favorite person and go call them, hang out with them, and just have some fun!
- Spend Time in Nature (this includes hanging out with your pet!). Research has proven time and again, that if you spend some time with nature each week, your body and mind will thank you (Berto, 2014; Hull & Michael, 1995; Wells, 2000)! So that being said, spend some self-care time each week outside, preferably being active—take a walk, head to the pool, or just sit in the shade with your dog. And if you have kids, model the importance of self-care, enlist their ideas on the best nature activities, and take them with you!
So now that you have a well-stocked toolbox with all that you need to start up your side hustle, we want to share with you a few fascinating tales of the best and brightest side hustlers out there. Read on for some inspiring stories from the superstars of the school counselor side hustle industry!
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics (5th ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Berto, R. (2014). The role of nature in coping with psycho-physiological stress: A literature review on restorativeness. Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs4040394
Buysse, D. J. (2014). Sleep health: Can we define it? Does it matter? Sleep, 37(1), 9–17. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.3298
Hodges, C. A. (2017). A beginner’s guide to meal prep. Retrieved October 17, 2018, from http://www.eatingwell.com/article/290651/a-beginners-guide-to-meal-prep/
Hull, R. B., & Michael, S. E. (1995). Nature‐based recreation, mood change, and stress restoration. Leisure Sciences, 17(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490409509513239
Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). PsycNET. American Psychologist, 53(9), 1017–1031. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1998-10886-001
Kresge, T. (2014). A beginner’s guide to once a week food prep. Retrieved October 17, 2018, from https://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/a-beginners-guide-to-once-a-week-food-prep-20-starter-recipes-and-meal-prep-ideas/
Michie, S., Abraham, C., Whittington, C., McAteer, J., & Gupta, S. (2009). Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: A meta-regression. Health Psychology, 28(6), 690–701. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016136
Scott, E. (2018). The top 10 self-care strategies for stress reduction. Retrieved October 10, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/self-care-strategies-overall-stress-reduction-3144729
Turkle, S. (2017). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other (1st ed.). Lebanon, IN: Basic Books.
Wells, N. M. (2000). At home with nature. Environment and Behavior, 32(6), 775–795. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139160021972793
Practicing or retired, all types of professionals including counselors, educators, social workers, psychologists, and other human services practitioners can use our guide to develop extra income by doing what you love to do.
“Cannot tell you how much I have appreciated this read. I truly could not put the book down. So many great ideas and stories. Thank you for what you both produced. I believe this will help inspire others to venture out.”
-Dr. Ernest Cox, Professor of School Counseling
at Texas A&M University“Highly recommend! This book is full of great resources and ideas for any educator wanting to make extra money. It shares beautiful stories about counselors who have stepped into the entrepreneurial world to share their passions and talents.”
-Julie Frizzi, School Counselor“School counselors have so many skill sets that lend to side hustles (like writing a book) – snag this book for yourself and see what I mean!”
-Lauren Walters Tingle, High School Counselor“This is another ‘must read’ to add to your library!! Why do extra duties at work when
you can work from your phone from anywhere?!”
-Franciene Sabens, 2016 Illinois School Counselor of the Year
“Excellent book and resource for any teacher wanting to start a side hustle. Practical tips and useful resources to make the process easy. It takes the work out of having to find all of the info yourself and trial and error. I used several of the resources and they work! This book is responsible for getting my new business started. Thank you!”
Kathleen J. (Amazon Review)
Experience the joy of doing more of what you love and the freedom of having extra income. Not sure how to do it exactly? We’ve got you covered with this new book! School Counselor Side Hustle has everything you ever wanted to know about succeeding at a lucrative side hustle! All educators and aspiring side hustlers, practicing or retired, will benefit from this book.
Check out the Table of Contents (PDF).
Dr. Russell A. Sabella is currently a Professor in the Department of Counseling in the College of Education, Florida Gulf Coast University and President of Sabella & Associates.