My self-care journey
I used to be a go, go, go and a very achievement driven person. I pushed myself very hard. I pushed my students very hard. I thought of the phrase: no pain, no gain. I always wanted to climb the mountain. Then I got really tired. I got burned out. I burned others out. I had to stop and think about why this was my way and why I valued stressful situations. I realized I had been trained to push myself and never really learned how to balance or recharge. This drive for perfection and “success” was at the cost of my wellbeing.
I then learned about self-care and the value of time and energy set aside to restore yourself. Not through a religion but through a religious studies retreat. They put together a lot of type A, high achieving academics and told us to just take care of ourselves. The competition was equalized and we were not trying to top anyone or ourselves. We had to spend time with ourselves.
Once I saw how this turn helped me, I wanted to implement it in my classes. I no longer wanted to go by society’s gold standard. I no longer wanted everything to be difficult. I wanted to find new and inventive ways to learn and teach. I started to teach with radical care.
Bio
Courtney teaches at Wofford College. She is in the Religion Department and Co-Coordinates the Middle Eastern and North African Studies Program. All of her classes revolve around a self-care pedagogical approach and some of her class titles are Ethnography in the MENA region, Islam in the Media, Exploring the Middle East, Muslims in America and A Global Guide to Caring for the Self. Courtney loves to learn from her students and finds the flipped classroom a wonderful, exciting approach. She is energized by the new ideas and novel approaches her students teach her each semester. At home she is a mother to a lively little girl, Liv and enjoys the meditative play of coloring, Legos and Cosmic Kids Yoga. She loves to take podcast walks and listen to awkward comedians and true crime.
Empowered for the Next Season of Life
Academia.edu– https://wofford.academia.edu/CourtneyDorroll