Pouring Into Ourselves: 115+ Self-Care Ideas for Teachers Over Winter Break

Winter break offers more than a pause from lesson plans and deadlines. It is a chance to truly rest and restore, not by adding more “self-care” to our to-do lists, but by rethinking how we support ourselves in sustainable ways. I am intentionally trying to move past the buzzwords and focus on practices that can live alongside the realities of teaching and education. These are habits that become automatic responses to stress, overload, and the everyday chaos of this work.

These weeks matter. How we rest now shapes how we return, how we listen, respond, create, and care in the months ahead. Pouring into ourselves is not selfish; it is necessary. Our health, energy, and well-being ripple outward into the spaces and people we serve.

So, how will you spend your winter break?

Below you will find 115+ ideas for gentle, realistic self-care, organized into mental, physical, practical, social, writing-focused, and teacher-specific categories. I have also included a section at the end just for fellow mamas who are navigating rest alongside caregiving.