Summer Rest Isn't Selfish- It's Essential

The case for guilt-free recuperation before September

It's only the start of the summer holidays, and already the guilt is creeping in. You see colleagues posting photos of beautifully organised classrooms, sharing Pinterest-worthy display ideas, and discussing their detailed September plans. Meanwhile, you're still in your pyjamas at 11am, watching Netflix, and the thought of opening your laptop makes you feel slightly sick.

Let me tell you something that might surprise you: you're doing exactly what you should be doing.

The Great Summer Guilt Trip

Teaching is perhaps the only profession where taking your allocated holiday time is treated as somehow unprofessional. Where colleagues feel the need to justify their rest with phrases like "I'll start planning next week" or "I'm just taking a few days off before I get back to work."

But here's the reality: if you've just finished a school year, you need to rest. Properly rest. And that's not negotiable.

What Your Body Actually Needs

Let's talk about what your nervous system has been through over the past eleven months.

The teaching year is essentially eleven months of sustained stress. Not the dramatic, obvious stress of crisis situations, but the constant, draining stress of:

• Being "on" for 6+ hours daily with little respite

• Making hundreds of decisions every single day

• Managing 30+ personalities simultaneously

• Switching between teaching, pastoral care, and administration seamlessly

• Maintaining professional composure regardless of your personal day

Your body has been in survival mode. You need more than a weekend to recover from that.

The Science of Teacher Burnout Recovery

Research from Education Support shows that 77% of education staff experience symptoms of poor mental health due to work. But here's what's rarely discussed: recovery isn't optional, it's a physiological necessity.

When you're in constant stress mode, your body produces cortisol continuously. This summer break isn't just nice-to-have time off - it's when your cortisol levels finally get chance to regulate.

Physical recovery takes time:

• Week 1-2: Your body is still wound up, expecting the alarm to go off

• Week 3-4: You start to genuinely relax, might feel more tired (this is normal)

• Week 5-6: Energy starts returning, creativity resurfaces

Permission to Do Nothing Productive

I'm going to give you permission for something radical: you're allowed to spend entire days being completely unproductive.

You're allowed to:

• Sleep until your body wakes up naturally

• Read fiction instead of education books

• Watch television without educational purpose

• Lie in the garden doing absolutely nothing

• Have conversations that aren't about teaching

• Ignore your school email completely

This isn't laziness. This is recovery.

The Myth of "Getting Ahead"

Here's something I learned in my 25+ years in education: the teachers who frantically plan all summer aren't more prepared - they're more exhausted.

Why summer planning often backfires:

• You don't know your new classes yet - those detailed lesson plans might be irrelevant

• Curriculum changes happen over summer that affect your planning

• Your energy in September will be different from your tired July brain

• Over-planning creates pressure to stick to unrealistic expectations

The most prepared teachers aren't those who planned all summer. They're the ones who rested properly and return with genuine enthusiasm and energy.

What Rest Actually Looks Like

Real rest isn't just absence of work. It's active recovery that rebuilds your reserves:

Physical rest:

• Sleep without alarms when possible

• Move your body gently - walks, swimming, gardening

• Eat foods that nourish rather than convenience

Mental rest:

• Do activities that engage different parts of your brain

• Read for pleasure, do puzzles, learn something non-educational

• Limit decision-making where possible

Emotional rest:

• Spend time with people who aren't teachers

• Talk about non-school topics

• Engage in activities that bring you joy, not achievement

Social rest:

• Say no to social obligations that feel draining

• Prioritise relationships that energise you

• Create boundaries around work conversations

When to Start Thinking About September

Not yet.

If you're reading this in July, you have permission to not think about September yet. And even then, keep it light:

Later on in August is soon enough for:

• Basic classroom organisation

• Reading through schemes of work

• Light planning for the first week only

Everything else can wait until you're back at school with renewed energy.

The Rested Teacher Advantage

Here's what happens when you actually rest properly:

You return to school:

• Genuinely excited to see students again

• Energised for new challenges

• Creative in your planning and teaching

• Patient with the inevitable September chaos

• Resilient when things don't go perfectly

The teachers who rest properly don't just survive September - they thrive in it.

A Different Kind of Summer Success

Instead of measuring summer by how much work you've done, measure it by:

• How much energy you have for a spontaneous activity

• How many books you've read purely for pleasure

• How many conversations you've had that weren't about education

• How many mornings you've woken up naturally

• How much you're genuinely looking forward to September

Your September Self Will Thank You

I promise you this: the teacher who returns to school well-rested will outperform the teacher who spent summer frantically preparing, every single time.

Your pupils deserve a teacher who chose rest over busy work. They deserve someone who returns with genuine enthusiasm, not forced productivity.

Your colleagues need you to model healthy boundaries. When you rest properly, you give others permission to do the same.

You deserve to enjoy your holidays without guilt, without judgment, and without justification.

So Here's Your Mission!

For the rest of July: Rest. Properly rest. Sleep late, read novels, have long conversations with friends, take baths, go for walks, do things that have absolutely nothing to do with education.

Feel guilty about it? Good. That means you're doing it right. The guilt will pass, but the benefits of proper rest will carry you through the entire school year.

Your September self is counting on your July self to rest.

Don't let them down.

If you're struggling to switch off or finding it hard to rest without feeling guilty, you're not alone. My book The ECT Survival Guide includes a complete section on sustainable self-care for educators, including practical strategies for genuine rest and recovery. Available now here.