Bianca McLeish: Self-Preservation & How To Honour Our Limits At Work | Episode 160

About this episode

Bianca McLeish discusses her journey from burnout to self-preservation and shares strategies for maintaining wellbeing at work.

“Self-preservation is about intentional actions that protect ourselves.” - Bianca McLeish What if working harder isn’t the answer? In this powerful conversation, educator and school leader Bianca McLeish shares her personal journey from burnout to self-preservation, drawing on insights from her book, 'Teacher Wellbeing Transformed: Break Free From Survival Mode Before Burnout'. Together, Meg and Bianca explore the difference between self-care and self-preservation, why understanding our nervous system changes everything, and the subtle signs that dedication may be tipping into depletion. Bianca offers practical, school-day strategies to regulate stress, protect our energy and work within our limits. This episode reframes wellbeing as essential because learning to work within our limits allows us to stay in this profession longer and without losing ourselves in the process. ---- Chapter Markers: 00:00 Introduction 04:18 Bianca’s burnout story 12:02 Self-care vs self-preservation 19:45 Understanding the nervous system 28:10 Subtle signs of depletion 36:40 Practical strategies for the school day 47:25 Working within our limits 55:10 Final reflections ---- Deliberate Actions…

People in this episode

Host: Meg Durham

Guest: Bianca McLeish

Topics covered

• self-preservation
• burnout
• wellbeing
• nervous system
• self-care
• education

Keywords

• self-preservation
• burnout
• nervous system
• self-care
• teacher wellbeing
• stress regulation

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Teacher Wellbeing Transformed: Break Free From Survival Mode Before Burnout

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