This week's prompt: what do you do when you just can't? Do you give up and go to bed (if you're able to sleep off whatever it is), do you try to power through on caffeine and willpower (and/or bribing yourself), do you figure out the bare minimum and do that, do you take to your couch with a comfort re-read, a cat, and a pot of tea? Have your strategies changed with age or life circumstances?
Goals for the past week appear below; let us know how you did and what you hope to get done in the coming week.
(Brought to you by exhaustion following a double vaccination for flu and Covid . . . neither has ever given me more than a sore arm before, but the two together are wiping me out.)
Contingent Cassandra (held over)
--Write two emails having to do
with the study leave and the October program
--At least begin listing and prioritizing the things I could, should, or must do before the October program and beyond to advance the study leave project
Daisy
Administrative assistant training,
yay!!
Explore grant idea and map out
draft
Finish popular article on research
topic
Read and comment on thesis
chapters URGENT
Exercise at least 4 times, two
have to be weights
Dame Eleanor Hull
- call washer hotline
- 20 minutes/day Alms, plus one
longer session
- read at least one chapter in
each of two scholarly books
- finish grading undergrad papers
- check grad bibliographies
- get flu/COVID boosters
- cardio + weights x2, swim at
least x2, yoga x4
- pay bills
heu mihi
1. Start reading the next diss
(R); write down my questions for X (first diss)
2. Begin revisions to ch. 5;
format ch. 4 biblio; write to friends who are supposed to be giving me feedback
on a couple of chapters and ask them whether they still want to
3. Catch up on Italian!
(Purgatorio 30, Paradiso 2)
4. Ask neighboring colleges about
participating in spring event
5. Grad students: Send out call
for applications for summer teaching; make promised website updates
6. Have a nice weekend with son
while husband is out of town
7. A full slate of workouts! (Run
x 3, swim x 2, yoga x 1 class)
JaneB
1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still
recovering from burnout and be kind to myself.
(i) do at least one mildly
creative-with-the-hands thing
(ii) read the novel I started
(& possibly start another non-fiction)
(iii) play D&D with group or
with nibling
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy
type intentional movement for at least 15 minutes
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore
list
ii) declutter kitchen
iii) do more sums/plan summarising
related to latest voluntary redundancy scheme
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) at least one teaching block
(3-4 hours) on non-urgent teaching prep (non-urgent = happening AFTER next
week)
ii) do all the needed things to be
ready for next week's teaching - more chasing up of other people, sigh.
iii) read chapter for grad student
- now urgent
iv) read funding application for
other grad student (when it arrives at the end of the week)
4 RESEARCH
i) a couple of hours on my grant
idea - I have to do more or I won't make the deadline
ii) at least two hours on part 3
of discussion for consultancy paper - we meet about it week after next so I
need to get on with it
iii) resolve issues for Visitor
and check we do have a plan
iv) meet with Former PDF to talk
about the revisions for the Chapter
Julie
1. Finish editing module
handbooks, decide on final readings and assignments.
2. Update VLEs for both modules.
3. Meet with TAs for first-year
module.
4. Finish call for papers for
workshop next year (five of us working on this, so a lot of back and forth in
two languages).
5. Choose tiles if time (probably
not).
6. Start organising stuff daughter
needs for half-term trip.
7. Enjoy walking weekend.
Susan
1. Catch up on a gazillion emails
that I'm behind on.
2. Read draft chapter of
dissertation
3. Organize books and resources
for November paper
4. Read for pleasure
5. Finish organizing things I
brought back/clean the kitchen
6. Figure out more of how this new
car works
7. Enjoy the show/ time with
friends
8. Do something fun at the weekend
Sorry to hear about the double vaccine knock-down - now THAT is a very good reason to take it easy and look after yourself and love on Basement Cat when he wants.
ReplyDeleteI used to beat myself up mentally, push through driven by a mix of sugar (coffee doesn't work normally on me) and anxiety, then once I got ill with whatever virus was being shared go totally flop. Then do it again. Now, I mostly "go to bed", doing a bare minimum of first self-care and then work stuff. Although since I was off, and am on a formal review for poor attendance (thanks, Interim Head) so am only "allowed" two sick days to be considered for being taken off the formal review in late November (as that is when we also hear about the whole People Change Programme thing, I'm oscillating between terror and indifference, and trying to ignore both entirely), I'm fighting reversion to my old non-strategy. Regardless, there is a cat involved. Shoutypants does not like to miss out and when he wants attention and a hoomin is in the house, hoomin better deliver.
LAST WEEK was hard. I felt overwhelmed and off-balance most of the time, and my timetable was such that I had to do two ten hour days on campus (with commute on top). on Tuesday and Thursday so with only one day (and a work day, just work at home) between the campus days. I keep reminding myself I started phased return end of April, was returned end of May, and it's only the start of October - even a month ago I don't think I could have done this much. But 'm struggling with the standing, there was a Union meeting which was pretty depressing as the University are still adamant that the People Change Programme is both essential and has to be done their way without many of the mitigation options or support for leaving staff that have been on the table in past rounds of staff reduction (it's a habit this uni cannot easily quit - but this round is being especially badly and unkindly done). Sigh! A more positive source of stress was having the much-postponed decluttering session, which was rewarding, but took pretty much all my weekend spoons. Even for a three day weekend. So not going into the coming week with much battery... but we'll see.
LAST WEEK'S GOALS:
Delete1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still recovering from burnout and be kind to myself.
(i) do at least one mildly creative-with-the-hands thing started Inktober doodles
(ii) read the novel I started (& possibly start another non-fiction) yes and yes. A not good but mercifully short non-fiction!
(iii) play D&D with group or with nibling yes with group and it was a pretty good game - we had a really difficult combat with assorted undead creatures, and only juuust got through with everyone alive, but we made it, and I got to use some neat character features - no with nibling and they didn't really cancel, they were home for a few days and hoping to cadge a lift back to uni with their mum - over an hour's drive - but that would happen when it suited mum and might get in the way of our game. But they never _told_ me that it actually did.
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy type intentional movement for at least 15 minutes one. This was a tough week and whilst I did do some stretching, it was more 2 minutes here and a sulky minute there, and a necessity not a choice
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore list no, but closer to that goal than last week
ii) declutter kitchen yes! Thanks to the decluttering help. And rearranged some things so the worktop lineup works a bit better with how I use the space (and the lovely helpful declutterer deep cleaned the worktop). Also she took FIVE bin bags of clothes to the charity shop for me (we turned out the boxes under the bed that were newly accessible because of the new bed, and went through a couple of boxes of "if I lost 1-2 sizes these would fit" clothes that were then able to mostly go into the underbed boxes).
iii) do more sums/plan summarising related to latest voluntary redundancy scheme waiting for information from the pay department, and also just no capacity. Not good, as the decision about whether to apply for voluntary redundancy has to be made by the end of this coming work week. However, we won't actually know for sure who is in a redundancy pool by then anyway, or how many posts are to go from each pool, so can't work out our own risk. It's not a good package so I'm not that likely to want to apply, but a big part of me wants to just to have made the decision myself and to be done with the uncertainty.
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) at least one teaching block (3-4 hours) on non-urgent teaching prep (non-urgent = happening AFTER next week) scraped it to 3 hours 10 minutes, but that counts. Just
ii) do all the needed things to be ready for next week's teaching - more chasing up of other people, sigh. pretty much there. Just some reminders to make...
iii) read chapter for grad student - now urgent half way through. It's a slog. It takes a LOT of care on my part because I need to read with great care so that I can distinguish between when I don't agree with their reading of a source - fine as long as the argument is clear
- as opposed to when they have misunderstood a source as opposed to when they are saying a perfectly reasonable thing but are saying it in an unclear way, and then giving appropriate levels of advice in a suitably encouraging way. And I don't have time to go re-read all the sources so I'm also often having to write comments as questions when I'm only 90% sure that there's a problem. Gah! So, a slog that requires focused brain power. Which I don't have much of each day at the moment.
iv) read funding application for other grad student (when it arrives at the end of the week) it arrived Friday, I dont work Fridays, and as mentioned no spoons. I'll have to hope I can get going at a decent time tomorrow so I can read it before we meet. At least it's only four pages... plus a form...
4 RESEARCH
Deletei) a couple of hours on my grant idea - I have to do more or I won't make the deadline about one hour
ii) at least two hours on part 3 of discussion for consultancy paper - we meet about it week after next so I need to get on with it yes but there was more to do than I realised, sigh, so am now at the point I thought I was starting at
iii) resolve issues for Visitor and check we do have a plan yes
iv) meet with Former PDF to talk about the revisions for the Chapter yes
At least that was two yesses to finish on...
THIS COMING WEEK:
Is also a Tuesday-Thursday week but 8 hours on campus days not ten, which should be less hard on me. And the dentist on Friday, sigh.
1 SELF-CARE. Remember I'm still recovering from burnout and be kind to myself.
(i) do at least one mildly creative-with-the-hands thing
(ii) read most days
(iii) play D&D with group or with nibling
(iv) three days of stretchy/bendy type intentional movement for at least 15 minutes
(v) go to dentist (do not get overwhelmed and reschedule)
2 HOUSE-LIFE ADMIN
i) at least 75% of regular chore list
ii) do more sums/plan summarising related to latest voluntary redundancy scheme
iii) take 5 minutes daily to keep the kitchen looking great
3 TEACHING AND ADMIN
i) at least one teaching block (3-4 hours) on non-urgent teaching prep (non-urgent = happening AFTER next week)
ii) do all the needed things to be ready for next week's teaching - a light load this week
iii) finish chapter for grad student
iv) edit and submit funding application for other grad student (deadline this week & has to go in in my name...)
4 RESEARCH
i) at least two hours on my grant idea plus setting up the online approvals form
ii) at least two hours on part 3 of discussion for consultancy paper - we have a meet pencilled in end of week so it's urgent now
iii) if time, referee paper. Not due until next week.
At least you got through the really bad week! I hope this one goes better, with the not-so-terribly-long days on T-Th; the ten hours on campus plus commute sounds very rough. I can see why you might want to go for the buy-out scheme just to have something settled. That's no doubt why they do it this way. I think Shoutypants wants to give you all the blood-pressure-lowering interactions with a cat that he can. Yay for finally getting your decluttering session!
DeleteSorry it's still so tough. I hope this coming week is easier. It sounds as if you still got a lot done.
DeleteI hope that you have a good week. It's somewhere between frustrating and outrageous that they've limited your sick leave between now and November. A good reason to keep your working hours within bounds, I suppose!
DeleteI just want to say I think what your "leadership" is doing is criminally cruel. I'm impressed with what you got done!
DeleteI am so mad and disgusted at the admistrators at your uni!
DeleteHang in there and take care of yourself, we are all rooting for you and sending as many good thoughts as possi le!
What I do when I can't depends. I often don't have a choice if it's house/kids stuff, as there is no one else to be an adult, so then I power through with whatever combination of caffeine/doing the bare minimum/taking a few minutes to cry is required. If it's a day when I don't have too much to do that's urgent, I might be kind to myself and comfort read/watch comfort TV.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Finish editing module handbooks, decide on final readings and assignments. - YES (but a couple of dates/timetabling issues still tbc, which is annoying)
2. Update VLEs for both modules. - ISH (essentials are done)
3. Meet with TAs for first-year module. - YES
4. Finish call for papers for workshop next year (five of us working on this, so a lot of back and forth in two languages). - YES (at least, my bit is done)
5. Choose tiles if time (probably not). - HAHA, NO (now urgent)
6. Start organising stuff daughter needs for half-term trip. - Travel jab done, nothing else
7. Enjoy walking weekend. - YES!
It was much harder than induction week is supposed to be, mainly because one day was taken up with a whole department away day and other people scheduled meetings which could have been left for a week or two. We also have about 40% more students in our first year intake than originally planned, so cue last-minute scrabbling for part-time teaching, and the unwelcome news that seminar groups will go up from 12 to 14, 12 already being an increase on the 10 we're supposed to cap at. So although they are holding numbers of teaching hours down, our marking loads and admin are up. Sigh.
BUT all of this meant that the walking weekend was perfectly timed. We were unbelievably lucky with the weather: Saturday was glorious. It's one of the most beautiful places I know (Ullswater, if anyone wants to google), especially with autumn colours. Even just driving down Friday I could feel my mood lifting. We did a 12 mile hike on Saturday with two hills, but the views were amazing. I did a short hike to a waterfall Sunday morning before driving home. I'm still tired today, but it was so worth it!
That walking weekend sounds amazing - good Autumn weather is the absolute best...
DeleteSorry about the class cap raises...
DeleteGlad your walking weekend was a success!
This week is significant, as it is my first week working only four days. Given all I've said above, it may be a challenge keeping to these hours, but I will try. So today is my non-working day. I have a probably overly ambitious list of tasks, but they do include nice things like making soup and baking muffins.
ReplyDeleteGoals for the week:
1. Prep introductory sessions for both modules.
2. Finish adding materials to VLE.
3. Read chapters for two PhD students.
4. Research: work out remaining budget from small grant and what to do with it.
5. Sort tiles (URGENT!)
6. Organise daughter's trip.
7. Book flu jab
8. Enjoy talks at book festival this weekend!
Good luck/bon courage w/r/t keeping to reduced hours! Yay soup and muffins---excellent things for autumn days. I hope you have enough budget left from the small grant to do something meaningful, and that you have a great time at the book festival!
DeleteGood luck with a four day schedule! I found mine worked best when, if I did need to do a bit more work, I'd fit it in on a work day and protect the non-work days - that disappeared with COVID & I'm trying to get back into the habit!
DeleteAnd enjoy the book festival! I hope you bring home many new friends-in-covers...
Today is dark and rainy, and I want more than anything to get under the covers with a book. But I must go to work instead. Right now I feel like there's no room for me to just not be able to, but I know that I'm being a bit melodramatic; normally, a nap and a nice cozy reading session sets me more or less right.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Start reading the next diss (R); write down my questions for X (first diss) - YES (didn't read much of R, but I did start!)
2. Begin revisions to ch. 5; format ch. 4 biblio; write to friends who are supposed to be giving me feedback on a couple of chapters and ask them whether they still want to - YES (a little, but it's a start), NO, YES (and unfortunately they still plan to give me feedback--I kinda just want to push forward on my own, but I know that it will help, so I need to get over it!)
3. Catch up on Italian! (Purgatorio 30, Paradiso 2) - YES
4. Ask neighboring colleges about participating in spring event - YES
5. Grad students: Send out call for applications for summer teaching; make promised website updates - YES (very easy/quick on all counts here)
6. Have a nice weekend with son while husband is out of town - MOSTLY, but I spent way too much time cooking. At my request, I got a pasta maker for my birthday, which is fun, sort of, but also a huge amount of work. I made an eggplant-and-walnut agnolotti yesterday--a ravioli-like thing--and it just takes HOURS. It's tasty and all. But I think that it would be faster and more enjoyable to do it with someone.
7. A full slate of workouts! (Run x 3, swim x 2, yoga x 1 class) - YES!
This week:
1. Check in on festschrift. We meant to send in the proposal in August, but apparently we just stopped working on it at some point.
2. Finish and submit RR essay
3. Read ch. 1 and 2 of Dissertation R (because I'm expecting K to come in any day now...)
4. Revise ch. 5 and send the new version to friend who has promised to read it
5. Shop for a new car, because the 20-year-old Jetta has started to make a terrible noise.
6. Keep going with the workouts: run x 3, swim x 2, yoga x 1
The fresh pasta does sound amazing. But yes, the couple of times I've seen it made, it did take ages and every surface there was for drying.
DeleteIt sounds like a very good week! Well done on the Italian! I have a mystery novel in Italian I'm supposed to be working through (read it in English first) but this is a task much more breach than observance.
DeleteAh, there's nothing as nice as being cozy in bed with a good book nearby on a rainy day... work is SO inconvenient!
DeleteLots of things done! Good luck with the RR submission, always so nice to get those things off and onto someone else's desk!
DeleteIt's a relief if I can just sleep through something, given my frequent struggles with insomnia. Thanks to my mostly-lost weekend, I'm still puzzled as to what day it is, but I'm never going to complain about getting ten hours of sleep in a night, plus naps! More often I have to pick small tasks, either those that don't take too much brain power or don't take too much energy, do what I can, and hope I'm setting myself up for a better day tomorrow (or whenever). Comfort baking and reading are always good options when all else fails!
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
- provide lap for Basement Cat as often as he wants: YES (I hope! sometimes I have to go to work or amuse Mor). He's doing well on gabapentin for pain management, still enjoying his food and time with us.
- call washer hotline: YES. Part delivered on Saturday!
- 20 minutes/day Alms, plus one longer session: HA, NO.
- read at least one chapter in each of two scholarly books. NO
- finish grading undergrad papers: YES
- check grad bibliographies: YES
- get flu/COVID boosters: YES
- cardio + weights x2, swim at least x2, yoga x4: YES, YES (x3, total of 2.5 miles), x2. I'm having trouble including yoga; sitting with Basement Cat probably has similar meditative effects, but isn't nearly so stretchy.
- pay bills: YES as of Monday (yesterday).
ALSO: sent e-mails to some friends about the possibility of a session at a conference next summer; endured YET ANOTHER phone call with my medical provider about a bill I have been assured will be covered by my insurance; finished taking notes on an ILL book and returned it; baked a cake.
New goals:
- provide lap for Basement Cat as often as he wants
- 20 minutes x3 on Alms or its larger project
- read at least one chapter in each of two scholarly books
- start grading another set of undergrad papers
- check 2 grad assignments (one from last week, one due this week)
- reading/prep for grad class
- cardio + weights x2, swim at least x2, yoga x4
- power-wash north side of house, maybe the deck as well
- walk with friend on Friday
- get weed-killer on lawn before first frost
That's plenty, probably over-ambitious. There's a lot of grading and class prep this week, but that's why I want to keep the idea of research on the table! I regret resorting to weedkiller, but the Creeping Charlie is totally out of control and in a yard this size it is just not possible to dig it all out, the way I managed in the flowerbeds at the last house.
As an aside, in the pressure of work and cat stuff, I've been mainly neglecting the garden, and I don't miss it, which I think confirms something I already knew: gardening is not really my thing, or a good prospect as a Retirement Thing. I enjoy it in a mild way, I like getting outside and doing something that doesn't involve screens or pages, and having a small positive effect on my environment, but it is not really a joyfully restorative activity the way it is for at least one of my friends. I'd rather hike than garden.
I know what you mean about gardening - I feel like it ought to be pleasure, my parents and grandparents all seem/seemed to get so much pleasure and satisfaction out of gardening, but the balance between chore and effort and satisfaction is just not there for me at the moment, and honestly I don't think it ever has been. This summer after I had some work done in the garden I just bought a small bag of native meadow plant seeds and threw them all over the large bit of garden bed I have - they're already coming up and will hopefully protect the soil all winter and become a nice wildlife-friendly space in the summer, and seed themselves, and NOT be a lot of work! We'll see... the mix had over 30 species so hopefully some will be happy there.
DeleteI hope so! It's nice to have green space that is friendly to wildlife and insects, and flowers are lovely if you can get them. I find it hard to relax and enjoy what is there, without feeling that I ought to be battling invasive species and restoring prairie habitat. (And secretly I do hanker after an Old World style garden that I could only have if I moved to a very different climate.)
DeleteHmmm, mostly I do the power-through-come-hell-or-high-water… I have been getting better about taking the do-bare-minimum-and-rest route when I’m sick or too burned out to function because I am definitely noticing that my patience for powering through at all costs is waning with age. That energy needs to be reserved for the truly important things and not wasted on things can are not actually on fire...
ReplyDeleteSomewhat related… I’m giving up on goals for the next few weeks. The term has been crazy, and I’m insanely behind in everything. Having the course overload plus the admin assistant’s work for the last two months has been way too much. Next week is our (very early) Fall break so I will have a bit of a breather and will get back to real goals then.
But… This week is particularly busy because I am playing a huge show in a neighbouring town (lots of fun, totally worth doing, great people) so I’ve been out there every day since last Friday, playing rehearsals from 6 to 11pm, and tonight is the one night off before the run (one a day Thurs/Fri, two each day on weekends, this week and next). So, I’m going to enjoy it, and not feel even slightly guilty for all the things I’m not doing because I’m having fun!
So…. Goals:
Enjoy show run!
Sleep when not playing!
Volunteer at local race and cheer on people who exercise!
Try not to feel bad about not exercising!
Keep work stuff going but don’t add new things!
Enjoy the show! That sounds like fun!
DeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one checking in on Thursday! I think what I do when feeling off depends: if I can, I sit still, as I did this weekend. But I'll often feel I have to push through -- teach the class and then go home to crash, deal with the house stuff, etc: like Julie, there's no one else. (But at I don't have children, so that's easier.)
ReplyDeleteI came back from Las Vegas just tired, with a sore throat from A/C, and realized I needed to sit still, so that's what I did for the weekend. I was still feeling not quite right Monday (and concerned because the friends I met in Vegas tested positive for COVID right after they got home), but finally bounced back on Tuesday.
How I did:
1. Catch up on a gazillion emails that I'm behind on. BEGAN
2. Read draft chapter of dissertation YES (returned and met with student)
3. Organize books and resources for November paper YES
4. Read for pleasure YES
5. Finish organizing things I brought back/clean the kitchen A BIT
6. Figure out more of how this new car works A BIT
7. Enjoy the show/ time with friends YES
8. Do something fun at the weekend NO
Sitting still seemed to be what I needed, so I did it. And it must be something autumnal, but I've read two different book reviews which overwhelmed me with grief because I couldn't share the books first with my husband and the other with my parents. Nothing like weeping as you read a book review! The good news is that I'm really going on the bigger project which I'm giving a paper on in November. It has become all absorbing, a lovely part of the research process.
Goals for the week ahead:
1. Keep going on the paper, keep up the momentum
2. Clean the apartment. I have not done a serious clean for too long.
3. Figure out which book I want to read. I have a pile of pleasure reading, and nothing currently inspires me. :(
4. Have a good time with my SIL and niece on Saturday
5. Get COVID shot. (Dame Eleanor has convinced me not to do the double.)
6. Contact trainer to get going at the gym
7. Figure out how to charge the car.
8. Pick up threads on podcast plan.
I'm torn between not doing the double again and enjoying the ability to sleep for 10 hours straight!
DeleteBook reviews: you never know what's going to hit you. For me it was Steve Martin, in "Only Murders in the Building," saying "woof." Much too long to explain, but wham. OTOH glad to hear your November paper/project is going well!