With stress among school principals on the rise, how can burnout be managed successfully?
Close to two-thirds of post-primary principals feel stressed or burnt out because of administrative overload, according to the National Association of Principals and Deputies.
Former principal Niall McHugo told Alive and Kicking with Clare McKenna that while he initially loved his role, he realised over time that the job of a principal can be isolating.
“Every day I had to lead the school and one thing that I prioritised was the well-being of the children, the staff and making everybody happy,” he said.
“But unfortunately, what happens is, nobody’s there to make you happy, you’re on your own.
“It’s quite isolating because you’ve nobody above you, nobody beside you to lead, especially in a small school.”
Stressed woman having problems, looking at laptop screen. Image: Aleksandr Davydov / Alamy. 9 September 2020Mr McHugo said it felt like he was trying to do two jobs at once and constantly being pulled in a different direction.
“It was just that pure exhaustion, mentally exhausted, and there are signs where, you’re constantly tired,” he said.
“Even if you sleep well, you wake up tired and you’re emotionally numb.
“You start getting a bit narky to small things that didn’t bother you, you know, someone saying something and you might go, ‘That’s not like me’.
“You get headaches, maybe your self-care might slip a little bit.”
Breath work
However, Mr McHugo said he learnt to manage his stress through breath work.
“If someone says meditate, I’m like, I can’t quiet my mind, I can’t actually sit there and just calm down, it doesn’t work,” he said.
“But breath work is really different because you’re guided and you’re just listening to instructions.
“You’re not just sitting there and waiting for the ‘Ommm’, it doesn’t work for me.”
According to Mr McHugo, learning how to feel his emotions rather than suppress them was also a huge part of his journey.
Main image: A woman in an office holds a stack of files, Alamy
