Think you might be on the path to teacher burnout? Perhaps your days are so busy that you don't have time for anything other than teaching. Your personal or home life is suffering. You stay awake at night worrying about the next day and how class will go, or you're unhappy and toying with the idea of quitting teaching altogether. Even with all of these problems, you don't want to just give up because stress is just the nature of the profession, right?

No matter if you are at the beginning stages of burnout or in the midst of a full-flamed attack, you need to get help! Researchers suggest prevention is the best cure for burnout, as with health-related diseases. Prevention measures can be applied at two levels: within your individual life and at an organizational level within your Christian school. Here are some tips to help.

1. Collaborate with peers. Feel all alone? Most likely your neighbor teacher does too. Form support groups and collaborate with teaching ideas, lesson planning, and classroom leadership methods. Great ideas might just be a fellow teacher away. So talk to each other!

2. Build personal relationships. Lessons aren't just in a textbook. Learning happens all the time. Take unplanned moments within the classroom and use them as teachable moments. Remember that the student is much more important than the task at hand. Get to know your students; it'll help you understand their struggles. Just don't overdose and feel like you have to be a counselor for everyone. This will drain you quickly!

3. Utilize team teaching. Get help from others! Even if your school can't spare a fellow teacher to help in the classroom, use teacher's aids, counselors, student teachers, interns, or volunteers to help you teach more efficiently. Students can help too. Student-to-student learning is a powerful tool, so take advantage of it.

4. Take a break. Are you counting down until school breaks or holidays or thinking summer can't come soon enough? Take a personal day, use some sick time, or request a leave of absence. Slow down. The best thing for relaxation is to get away. Schools are famous for the lack of leave time allowed, which is one major cause of burnout. If you're feeling on the edge, don't wait. Take a day off!

5. Don't sweat the small stuff. Worried about covering all the student activities? Concerned about dinner, laundry, the and chipping paint in your classroom? Are you feeling like you have to be perfect? Don't stress yourself out about unimportant things or things that you can't control. Save your energy for what's important: being a good teacher and family member!

6. Address problems actively. Don't passively put off issues in your classroom, your teaching, or with your students. They'll fester into bigger problems that cause more stress if you don't address them immediately. If you don't have the authority to address problems, talk to a superior or fellow teacher for advice.

7. Change your position or school. Feel trapped? Try transferring to another school. You might find your issues are only with school leadership, students, or staff at your current school. Try being a tutor or teaching in a different venue. No improvement? Consider if the teaching profession is really the right fit for you.

8. Participate in professional or personal development. Not challenged or growing? If profession development activities at school don't help, break out on your own. Attend online seminars or visit other teacher discussion boards or blogs. Try activities not related to teaching. Take a cooking class, learn a musical instrument, volunteer, or get a new hobby!

9. Find a healthy balance. Prioritize you work and home life correctly! Find relaxation techniques to keep you calm like deep breathing. Eat healthy foods, stretch, exercise. Get enough sleep at night. Set a schedule at home and at school so you can get into proper habits. Remember that you can't do everything. Allow yourself to say "no" sometimes.

10. Reward yourself. Don't feel recognized at school? Suggest awards like "teacher of the month" to your school administration or find ways to give yourself awards for reaching personal goal accomplishments. Enjoy a special dinner or a relaxing pampering.

11. Rely on the Lord. You can't accomplish anything without Him, so don't feel like it's all on your shoulders. Let God help you with the burden. Mistakes happen when you think you can do everything alone. Pray for daily guidance. Spend time in the Bible. Form prayer groups. Listen to His voice.

Burnout is not something to take lightly or ignore indefinitely. In its worst form, it can rob you of happiness, take your health, and leave you in despair. Burnout affects more than you; it affects your students, your family, your fellow teachers' attitudes,  and everyone's surrounding you.

Self evaluation is essential if you are suffering from burnout, and careful consideration must be given to your personal situation. Is your burnout preventable? Do you feel stress might have mounted because of a spiritual attack by the adversary or might your burnout be a sign that you should consider leaving the teaching profession? Only you can answer these questions. Prayer and guidance from the Lord will help you make the correct decisions.

What tactics have your found successful for helping reduce your stress or burnout? Share ideas with other Christian school teachers by commenting below!