While I'm happy to ignore the election results (denial is good) it occurred to me that one of the challenges all of us face from time to time is when the world decides to do something that interrupts our "regularly scheduled programming". Elections and political events are obvious events, but floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters can also interrupt us. These external events are slightly different from more personal "life happens" type things, but are equally disruptive. What are the ways you've found to cope with the times when the world in some way makes your life difficult?
Goals from last week:
allan wilson
1. Exercise
2. Finish the revisions on FS and WHK.
Contingent Cassandra
--keep moving (gardening, walking, other exercise)
--get garden plot ready for inspection
--follow up on grant project: more financial stuff, work on scheduling meeting & setting agenda
--make parsley pesto if time
--follow up w/ stepsister
Daisy
1) Complete draft of Local Hills paper
2) Sample lists for analytical stuff to collaborators and labs
3) Eat crunchy green and yellow and red and purple things that are NOT candy!
Dame Eleanor Hull
1. Self care: stick to special diet and track foods; sit 4x, yoga 3x, stretch 3x, weights 3x, walk 5x.
2. R&R #2: at least 4 hours; try to finish.
3. House/personal: pay bills, get gutter estimates, finish clearing around the windows that will be replaced, 1 hour garden clean-up, light for indoor plants.
4. Teaching: Keep up; meet with dissertators; rec letter.
5. Do something fun.
6. Keep up with TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ.
2. R&R #2: at least 4 hours; try to finish.
3. House/personal: pay bills, get gutter estimates, finish clearing around the windows that will be replaced, 1 hour garden clean-up, light for indoor plants.
4. Teaching: Keep up; meet with dissertators; rec letter.
5. Do something fun.
6. Keep up with TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ.
Earnest English (held over)
Mental Health: Planning, stretching, mental discipline for inner freedom, meditation when needed, breathe. Try not to invest a lot of energy in hating hateful people.
Gardening: 1 hour of gardening this weekend (clean up? plant garlic?)
Writing: 3 sessions of writing/revising; respond to others’ work; read for project; send off to deadline!
Health: sleep, rest, relax, take supplements, eat well, make sure to bring and eat lunch.
Cooking: one meal this week
Planning: Figure out Halloween; grade day by day to prevent weekend-stealing
Spirited!: therapy and connect when I get home.
Mental Health: Planning, stretching, mental discipline for inner freedom, meditation when needed, breathe. Try not to invest a lot of energy in hating hateful people.
Gardening: 1 hour of gardening this weekend (clean up? plant garlic?)
Writing: 3 sessions of writing/revising; respond to others’ work; read for project; send off to deadline!
Health: sleep, rest, relax, take supplements, eat well, make sure to bring and eat lunch.
Cooking: one meal this week
Planning: Figure out Halloween; grade day by day to prevent weekend-stealing
Spirited!: therapy and connect when I get home.
Elizabeth Ann Mitchell
Make at least three of the five outstanding doctors’ appointments
Write 250 words on Prudence x 7
Work on one story for a half-hour x 5
Float like mist, everyone! Tilt at those windmills!
Write 250 words on Prudence x 7
Work on one story for a half-hour x 5
Float like mist, everyone! Tilt at those windmills!
Good Enough Woman
HEALTH: Make well-child check up for kids. Walk 2x. Yoga 2x. Swim 1x.
HOME: Pay bills. Tidy study.
RESEARCH: Print out chapter one of thesis. Decide what sections to cut in order to reduce word count (by a LOT). Cut those sections.
FAMILY: Take daughter to movie, have a family outing to pool (and maybe dinner and another movie). Enjoy (?) our family time on election night as we watch the returns come in.
HOME: Pay bills. Tidy study.
RESEARCH: Print out chapter one of thesis. Decide what sections to cut in order to reduce word count (by a LOT). Cut those sections.
FAMILY: Take daughter to movie, have a family outing to pool (and maybe dinner and another movie). Enjoy (?) our family time on election night as we watch the returns come in.
1 30 minutes of research stuff every day
2 find a better name for “research stuff”
3 30 minutes of reading every day--that stack of research-related books, the long list of links in my online bookmarks, the novel I decadently checked out as an e-book last night
Jane B
ridiculous list of goals for reading week: (Ridiculous is an understatement, IMHO!)
1) finish the last fiddly bit of this half of Problem Child and write my share of drafts of two papers on it.
2) comment in detail on one revise and resubmit and write the new section I have to contribute (co-authors waiting on me)
3) comment in detail on three close to submission manuscripts (one of which I haven't seen for a year...)
4) referee three papers
5) write the Annual Report for Old Admin Job (about 35 pages of bureaucratise. There are bits that can be cannabalised, but it takes energy).
6) write a 2 hour class on "digital literacy in the science disciplines"
8) mark 45 lab reports and 15 essay drafts
9) Act as external examiner for a master's degree (read about 15 dissertations varying in length from 20,000-35,000 words in several disciplines; review a couple of other project-based modules; write a detailed report).
10) sort out my travel plans for November and make excuses as necessary (I am TRIPLE-BOOKED one day...)
11) write one more week of the new statistics teaching
12) work through another revise and resubmit (we have until mid-December)
13) write one section and edit all sections of a grant, so it can go off to internal referees
14) visit counsellor, doctor, make eye care appointment
15) declutter house to some degree
16) eat well, exercise, sleep a lot, all that stuff
17) keep up with NaNoWriMo (yes, I'm doing it. I may be mad...)
karen
1. Drink water before caffeinating
2. Set timers when marking to stretch and rest eyes.
3. Read and take notes on 1 article in scheduled time on Friday.
4. Make counselling appointment
KJ Haxton
1. settle into some kind of routine now working from home has kicked in
2. more prep for late November event
3. keep email in its place
4. get distance learning course materials uploaded and all the deadlines sorted.
Susan
1. Finish copyedited MS.
2. Draft one (and maybe 2) small grant proposals. But I'll have to write them on the way home from my conference.
3. Keep sleeping, and exercising.
Waffles:
1. Submit NSF application
2. Finish up RSA abstract and send to mentor
3. work on one of 3 papers (aging, abuse or intersections)
I've been beyond depressed this week over the election, but was able to throw myself into work on Thurs and Fri (after spending wednesday glued to cable news and sobbing all day). My strategy is - to remain productive - avoid the news and just focus and work. This may not work today as I have been sucked into the news, but I was also kind of contemplating taking a break from work this weekend anyway.
ReplyDeleteLast week's goals:
1. Submit NSF application - DONE AND SUBMITTED
2. Finish up RSA abstract and send to mentor - DONE AND GOT FEEDBACK FROM CO-AUTHORS
3. work on one of 3 papers (aging, abuse or intersections) - DID SOME READING AND STRATEGIZING
This week:
1. Finish RSA abstract
2. make a stab at outlining pub from diss
3. make decision about aauw fellowship
4. Self care flew out the window this week, so I'd like to spend some time cleaning and cooking this weekend (since tuesday, I've basically only eaten guac and chips - not healthy).
Hopefully this week I will get my summary statements from my NIH fellowship application and we can see what kind of feedback I got, and can contact my program officer to get a sense as to the possibility of funding. I need to say, I work in an area of research that will likely be under huge threat by our new administration, so I am really hoping I get funded this first time so that politics won't block funding for my population of interest. I'm very scared about what will happen for science/health research.
I'm big on avoidance too. And here's hoping you get funded!And you've done well.
DeleteI'm really impressed by how focused and productive you've managed. And self care as a prioirty for next week is very sensible.
DeleteAdd me to the list of distracting myself from devastation with research projects. Your accomplishments are absolutely inspiring.
DeleteThrow in a margarita, and guac and chips sound like the perfect medicine! Congrats on a good week despite the shock and misery.
DeleteGuac has vegetables too!! that counts...
DeleteI think "avoid the news and just focus and work" is a good strategy---not that I've been able to put it into practice for most of the week, but it's my plan for the week ahead. I've contributed to a lot of worthy causes that are likely to need it in the next few years, and now I am going to conserve my energy and outrage until they're needed. I am sure they will be needed. But until Orange Voldemort is inaugurated, he can't make good on any threats, so there's no point in working myself up over things that haven't happened yet. If I get my work done now, I'll have more time to protest or whatever later.
ReplyDeleteI guess in terms of strategy, it's my usual way of dealing with strong emotion: let it flow and get it over with, because resistance just makes it burst out uglier, and then try to *think* what best to do.
Congratulations on so much DONE, Waffles!
Despite not being directly affected by the US election results, I still got sucked in to the news cycle - and am worried about the ramifications for the rest of the world. Our local right-wing politicians already seem to be taking this as permission to get louder and more extreme. But as Dame Eleanor wisely says, there is not point in anticipating trouble that hasn't come yet. My external event this year was shutting down our campus due to a flood threat in the middle of assessments. What helped was having a couple of layers of backup plans and good people to share the work with. (Am trying not to think about how extreme weather events like this might be becoming the new normal). I'm also dealing with a personal/external event right now - a friend/colleague died this week - expected but unfair and sad. Coping strategies have been firmly in the escapist fiction realm - not a great long term strategy but it works for me in the moment.
ReplyDeleteLast two week:
1. Drink water before caffeinating - Yes. mostly
2. Set timers when marking to stretch and rest eyes = No
3. Read and take notes on 1 article in scheduled time on Friday - No
4. Make counselling appointment - done and attended
This week:
Realistically, this week is going to be high on caring for students and colleagues and I should try to include self-care as well. I'm going to set low expectation so at best I can be pleasantly surprised and at worst feel satisfied about completing something.
1. Find some time to work from home. Take screen break and plant seeds in peace.
2. Drink water before caffeinating.
3. Go to bed at the same time as husband at least twice this week.
4. Pick a single small future-orientated task each work day and do it before emails.
I read a short article about Barack Obama this morning in which he said that kindness is at the core of his politics and everything he does. I see you extending your kindness to students, colleagues, and self, and I'm determined to believe that kindness is an energy that feeds back.
DeleteI love the idea of a future oriented task. It's a way of building hope, but also something practical.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your friend/colleague. I hope fellow feeling will get you all through.
DeleteSide note: Do all wives stay up later than their husbands? I sure do.
No, chez moi I'm the early bird and Sir John stays up till all hours.
DeleteWhat do I do to cope? I guess ice cream is not a good answer. Checking out and watching movies? Distraction and escapism are key along with the knowledge that while allowing some grieving is good, mostly I need to focus on those things I can do and not get caught up in despair. Ground myself in other things.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I haven't checked in for the last couple weeks. I got sick a week ago Friday and then graded all weekend, and then was out for several days of last week. So the cost of not relaxing was not getting well and missing days. Sigh! Sometimes I just don't know how I'm supposed to get grading done when I have my week really does seem jam-packed! I'm used to telling myself that I'm lazy, but that's really not it -- it's just that I naturally rebel against unrealistic expectations, such as the expectation that I will put in long hours of classes and meetings and then somehow have the energy to any spend any free moment grading, which inevitably means nights and weekends. It's really important that I not work every moment, but I just don't see how to do that and get everything done.
Anyway, so I'm going to check in on my session goals, which I’m totally behind on.
Session Goals
Gardening/herbalism: don’t forget about the garden, but do some fall planting, winter gardening or whatever/planning or herbalism learning weekly: NO TIME, UNREASONABLE EXPECTATION
Writing: five hours/sessions per week (reading counts!); 6x: YES, have really made this a priority and am doing really well on this
Health: sleep!!! (in bed by 11 or earlier on worknights), supplements, good food: need more work on this since obviously I got totally ill
Mental health: journal, meditate or yoga and RELAX, listen to audio books during commute; planning instead of panic; create and communicate boundaries: Good, but more meditating or yoga would be helpful.
Cooking: one nice meal a week (plan over weekend): YES, this is key to my mental health, I’ve noticed, because this helps to ground me at home
Weekly and birthday/holiday planning: Keep on top of holidays and other events with planning on weekends: OK
Spirited!: keep checked in to his education: at least check notebook every weekend and check in with him; even better? ask daily: doing okay on this, but Spirited misses me and so I have to figure that out a bit more too
Work: be an intentional, slow professor who plods through work: Yeah right
FROM LAST TIME
Mental Health: Planning, stretching, mental discipline for inner freedom, meditation when needed, breathe. Try not to invest a lot of energy in hating hateful people. MORE MEDITATION NEEDED
Gardening: 1 hour of gardening this weekend (clean up? plant garlic?): putting this off to Thanksgiving weekend
Writing: 3 sessions of writing/revising; respond to others’ work; read for project; send off to deadline! YES, mostly
Health: sleep, rest, relax, take supplements, eat well, make sure to bring and eat lunch. NOT DOING WELL HERE
Cooking: one meal this week; YES
Planning: Figure out Halloween; grade day by day to prevent weekend-stealing: YEAH RIGHT
Spirited!: therapy and connect when I get home. OK
Next Week
Mental Health: Stretch whenever I remember; planning; meditate twice this week, maybe at work?
Gardening: don't worry about it
Writing: work in the morning; read
Health: sleep, rest, relax, take supplements, eat well, make sure to bring and eat lunch.
Cooking: one meal this week
Planning: Figure out Thanksgiving
Spirited!: Connect and be here when I get home; keep up with therapy; spend time with him
Work: plod through grading
Excellent on the writing---glad to hear it's getting done! I really like "don't worry about it" as a goal, too.
DeleteIce cream is an excellent response, I think! But as Dame Eleanor says, progress on writing is also good.
DeleteI'm a great believer in ice cream (and it shows -- but still, good stuff).
DeleteDo we have any members in NZ? Are you OK after the quake?
ReplyDeleteNot NZ so well clear of the quakes. Thanks for thinking to ask.
DeleteNZ here- my family are personally all good, but its pretty tough for many in the affected area. Major freight routes destroyed, water and sewage screwed, small town economy based on tourism decimated, some sad wildlife losses. But, very few deaths which is amazing. Also wonderful manaakitanga (looking after others) that appears in times of need. aw
DeleteHow I did:
ReplyDelete1. Self care: stick to special diet and track foods; sit 4x, yoga 3x, stretch 3x, weights 3x, walk 5x. STUCK to it, tracked 5/7; sit 2x, yoga 2x,stretch 2x, weights 2x, walk 5x (yay, up to plan on that one).
2. R&R #2: at least 4 hours; try to finish. NOPE.
3. House/personal: pay bills, get gutter estimates, finish clearing around the windows that will be replaced, 1 hour garden clean-up, light for indoor plants. YES bills and garden, bought but did not set up lights, NO to the rest.
4. Teaching: Keep up; meet with dissertators; rec letter. YES, 1/2, NO.
5. Do something fun. Does comfort reading count?
6. Keep up with TRQ so it doesn't distract me from TLQ. I think we're all too stunned to track TRQ! Or it fades in significance, or something.
ALSO DONE: one of those financial things I kept listing and not getting to. Plumber in to fix 3 leaky taps and rusted shut-off valves. Plus donations or renewed memberships to a variety of good causes: ACLU, Amnesty International, Border Angels, the Young Center (unaccompanied minor immigrants), Animals 24/7, MedievalPOC, Pamela Dean (because we're going to need more good escapist fiction!), and my local animal shelter (because kitties). There will be more. Cloud at www.wanderingscientist.com has a good list of suggestions if anyone's looking for ideas; as she says, everyone has different priorities but that's good, it means among us we'll cover the needs.
NEW GOALS:
1. Self-care: sit 5x, yoga 2x, stretch 5x, weights 3x, walk or elliptical 5x, stick to diet and track food 7x.
2. Teaching: plans for this week; some TRQ.
3. Research: finish R&R; send some e-mails.
4. House/Life: prep for new windows (TRQ at this point), gutter estimates.
5. Stay away from news and some of my usual internet sites. Go outside or look at cat pix instead.
(If you aren't interested in my dietary issues, now skip to the next comment, please!)
If JaneB or EAM or anyone else is interested in the diet thing, I'm now on a low-FODMAP diet (Wikipedia has a good article with a lot of serious science-y notes and links to helpful pages) and it is working for me. It's a bit of a pain to avoid a lot of favorites or staples, and it is hard to eat out, so I'm cooking a lot more, but I feel vastly better so it's worth it. Chocolate is OK! I made oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies yesterday from my normal recipe, substituting a blend of millet flour and tapioca flour for the wheat flour, and they came out well (a little crumbly).
Re mood and food, I don't think it's that my problem foods "cause" depressive symptoms, but rather that being ill---even at a low level that comes to seem "normal"---takes up far more energy than I realized, plus it interferes with sleep. So fixing the gut fixes sleep and frees up energy, and voila: I have cried over the election results and I worry for my students but I'm functional, not depressed. It still seems miraculous that I not only feel better but know what makes me feel better. That means that I can expect to go on feeling well, instead of having random inexplicable good days in a sea of not-so-good. In turn that means I can plan and stick to plans instead of never knowing when I'm just not going to be up to much.
I have absolutely zero motivation to diet in order to lose weight, but I have a lot more motivation to avoid feeling ill! YMMV.
I have stayed away from news and social media most of the week and read a novel instead. No guilt on the novel--comfort reading counts not only as fun but also solace and distraction.
DeleteGlad FODMAP is working for you -- and yes, I can imagine the link between feeling ill and mood. It also sounds like you've been reasonably productive!
DeleteThank you for the list of places to give. I've been traveling since Wednesday AM but am trying to figure out positive actions.
In the past, I have thrown myself into work when the world intervenes. Lately my responses have been more about calm retreat than about productivity. Experiencing two hurricanes 20 years apart gives me a sense of how differently I have reacted.
ReplyDeleteThe election has certainly taken a heavy toll. I went to bed Tuesday night before the election was called and just did not want to get up Wednesday and face that reality. This reality.
Last week
1 30 minutes of research stuff every day: 4 out of 7. Considering this week, I am not unhappy with that, but I know I need to keep at this to make it habit.
2 find a better name for “research stuff”: for the moment I’m choosing recherche, thanks to etymology and a completely different contemporary usage
3 30 minutes of reading every day: yes.
This week
1 30 minutes recherche every day. I know I won’t write on Monday because of teaching overload, so I will plan ahead and give myself some kind of researchy task to make sure I get that done.
2 30 minutes of reading every day
3 finish book review 2. Because there’s no reason I have not done so yet.
I get the retreat. . . and I'm glad you're reading. That sounds healthy!
DeleteI love the word recherche :)
DeletePretend it isn't happening, eat chocolate, whine, demonstrate the coping strategies of an emotionally backward wombat...
ReplyDeleteLast week's ridiculous list
1) finish the last fiddly bit of this half of Problem Child and write my share of drafts of two papers on it.
Fiddly bit done, first draft done.
2) comment in detail on one revise and resubmit and write the new section I have to contribute (co-authors waiting on me)
done
3) comment in detail on three close to submission manuscripts (one of which I haven't seen for a year...)
one done
4) referee three papers
5) write the Annual Report for Old Admin Job (about 35 pages of bureaucratise. There are bits that can be cannabalised, but it takes energy).
no and no
6) write a 2 hour class on "digital literacy in the science disciplines"
nearly done
8) mark 45 lab reports and 15 essay drafts
done
9) Act as external examiner for a master's degree (read about 15 dissertations varying in length from 20,000-35,000 words in several disciplines; review a couple of other project-based modules; write a detailed report).
done bar editing and formatting the report, which is due at 5 tomorrow
10) sort out my travel plans for November and make excuses as necessary (I am TRIPLE-BOOKED one day...)
leaving this one as I'm Officially Sort Of Sick and playing it by ear at the moment (and kind of hoping, in a wombatish way, that proper sick might arrive and I can just go oh dear no can do and go back to bed). Because I'm not a very grown up adult
11) write one more week of the new statistics teaching
begun
12) work through another revise and resubmit (we have until mid-December)
untouched, because the other person didn't send it to me when they said they would
13) write one section and edit all sections of a grant, so it can go off to internal referees
nope. Have this huge block about grants...
14) visit counsellor, doctor, make eye care appointment
counsellor yes, doctor yes, eye no
15) declutter house to some degree
NOPE!
16) eat well, exercise, sleep a lot, all that stuff
mixed. Maybe about 40% of the time?
17) keep up with NaNoWriMo (yes, I'm doing it. I may be mad...)
I'm ahead right now - I have 25,000 words written which is half way, with two days to go until the official half way point. AND - and this is a BIG DEAL for me - I went to a meet up and met some complete strangers to talk about writing (one issue I've long had with living in NorthernCity is meeting non-university people who are, well, not to put too fine a point on it, educated. Wierd in the 'normal' way. Today I met a museum curator who happily talked about the special colonial catalogues Fortnum and Mason used to send out as a source for his story (he was trying to find out what portable soup tasted like and is writing a "reverse Prisoner of Zenda" story), a chemist who reads Sartre for fun, someone else who can quote Terry Pratchett books like there's no tomorrow, and a young trendy 'I work in media and marketing' guy who seemed a bit out of place at first but casually uses words like archetype and had read several academic articles on typology of story, so we all got on on some level. Also the coffee shop chosen had great hot chocolate and vegan soup options. I might have worked out how to meet my kind of people... even if it only happens in November...
So for a ridiculous list, and a not well week, I have made progress.
So let's see if I can get the other half done this coming week... It'll depend. I need to either get sick or get well, basically. Tomorrow's classes are rescheduled, Tuesday I have 2 hours after mostly rescheduling (not prepped or marked for), Wednesday 2 hours, drive to another town, give a seminar. Thursday... maybe 2 hours? Don't remember. Friday 4 hours. All need prepping and will eat a lot of time, because being at work does (see blog for whining and recent depressing news). or all need rescheduling. Either way.
DeleteSo, the impossible list redux
1) draft my bits of the second Problem Child part one paper
2) comment in detail on two close to submission manuscripts (one of which I haven't seen for a year...)
3) referee three papers
4) write the Annual Report for Old Admin Job (about 35 pages of bureaucratise. There are bits that can be cannabalised, but it takes energy).
5) finish and mail externalling report
6) sort out my travel plans for November and make excuses as necessary
7) write one more week of the new statistics teaching
8) work through another revise and resubmit (we have until mid-December)
9) write one section and edit all sections of a grant, so it can go off to internal referees
10) make eye care appointment
11) declutter house to some degree
12) eat well, exercise, sleep a lot, all that stuff
13) keep up with NaNoWriMo, find nerve to go to one meetup this coming week
I'm impressed you got through as much as you did! And the meetup sounds great. Living in a place where intelligent non-university people are very thin on hte ground, I think this is excellent!
DeleteI'm amazed - that was one helluva list and some brilliant progress. The meet up does sound fun...
DeleteMy response to crisis is to find something practical to do. It was easy with a hurricane or tornado (I've had both); politics is harder. I've been traveling since early Wednesday, but on my first flight, the woman next to me and I just wept together. I've stayed off social media most of the time, and I'm thinking I'll try to take a bit of a break. In a few weeks I will work out the practical things I can do -- Dame Eleanor's list of organizations, where I work in my community, etc.
ReplyDeleteGoals:
1. Finish copyedited MS. DONE. A day late, but done.
2. Draft one (and maybe 2) small grant proposals. But I'll have to write them on the way home from my conference. NO
3. Keep sleeping, and exercising. SLEEP yes, exercise no.
I was at an admin retreat for two days, taught, spent 12 hours at home, and then traveling. My conference was great -- good times with friends, and also a chance to focus on subjects I care about. As well as good food, and a chance to visit the new Museum of African American History. (For anyone who gets to Washington, it's beautifully done. More weeping, but. . .). On this last flight, I started reading a book I'll be writing an essay about in January. So good to just get absorbed in something.
Goals this week:
1. Write 1 small grant proposal
2. Start work on expanding conference paper for journal forum.
3. Eat carefully, exercise.
4. Read books, limit social media to 15 minutes morning and evening.
Social media has been tough, even this side of the ocean - facebook feed first thing in the morning is mainly USA stuff and it's heartbreaking. I hope you find satisfying practical actions to take.
DeleteWell the world certainly intervened the last month and a bit for me! For the horrible election and outside world stuff I generally go for avoidance - no news, no internet outside my academic bubble, and no talking to people who would make me crazy...
ReplyDeleteWhen it is closer to home I find it easier - when your house floods you kind of just have to suck it up and start packing stuff! It did help for me the last month to pick small research things to do in carefully guarded times so that it felt like I was still moving forward. Not very profound, but definitely effective!
Last week's goals:
1) Complete draft of Local Hills paper NOT COMPLETE but in better shape than it was...
2) Sample lists for analytical stuff to collaborators and labs DONE
3) Eat crunchy green and yellow and red and purple things that are NOT candy! MOSTLY GOOD!
This week's goals:
1) Complete draft of Hills paper
2) Complete outline of Cold Area paper to collaborators
3) List of figures and data plots needed for Cold Area paper
Wishing everyone a peaceful week!!!
It almost made me sad that you specified not candy for those coloured foods. But coloured crunchy stuff can be tasty. I like avoidance mode.
DeleteI like your additional focus on small research things you can do to feel like you're making progress.
Delete(And one of the things that thinking about this did for me was to realize that my goal is being practical, which is indeed easier when there is a tree through your roof than when the orange cheeto is elected president.
Wednesday...yeah so waking up the morning after first chemo, feeling...unwell...and checking the news. I think my mind just slid sideways and tried to contemplate this new reality. Not sure I'm there yet to be honest. I watched the news for a few hours in dazed disbelief...and this is already with 'post-brexit-partial-immunity to 2016 crazy'. Then I found some distracting work stuff to do and tried to focus on that. The world seems to be convulsing at the moment, I hope it isn't done because I wouldn't like it to stick like this.
ReplyDeleteI tend to use the hill walking analogy when stuff gets flung at me - I dislike walking uphill but I love the view from the top. I dislike that way that pretty mountains pull you in, show you a summit and once you've reached it laugh at you and point out that it wasn't really the top. I've had my fair share of yelling at rocks in frustration. So now I tend to keep my eyes on the path and assess the view and the top only once I get there. I keep my expectations guarded, and keep doing the whole one step after another, keep breathing thing.
Last week:
1. settle into some kind of routine now working from home has kicked in - DONE in as much there is no routine, still figuring it all out.
2. more prep for late November event - decent amount done
3. keep email in its place - done
4. get distance learning course materials uploaded and all the deadlines sorted. - done as much as could be done
This week:
1. make progress on literature reviews for a few projects
2. maintain momentum on the distance learning courses
3. hand crafted items - hats and ideas/test drawings for Christmas card printing
4. outline cook book idea
I'm focussing more on TLQ this week as I feel I should - TRQ has a big long to do list/plan in my calendar so I need to keep going on this stuff.
I like the hill walking analogy. . . what's the next step is very useful! And good luck keeping up on the TLQ.
DeleteThe hill walking analogy is definitely apt. Best wishes on juggling chemo, TLQ, and TRQ in the midst of the craziness that is 2016. I'm not sure what the Queen will think, but I'm nominating this another annus horribilis.
DeleteHow to cope when the world intervenes? Like many have already commented, I have to unplug. As I forecast last week, DH being out of town means that I have not had the news on since he left. I have avoided social media of all kinds, with the exception of wishing some family happy birthdays.
ReplyDeleteI spent most of Wednesday weeping. At first, I felt it was inappropriate, since the last time I wept at work due to world events was 9/11, but then I decided not to beat myself up for that, and was decidedly unapologetic. Once I picked myself up, it was time to contribute to the causes that are in danger--and many thanks to Dame Eleanor for sharing so many great ideas of causes to support. My sister and I have talked about how we need to bolster our support of each other and our friends and colleagues as women, as academics, as any marginalized group in which we count ourselves.
Also, I did a lot of clutter reduction and re-organization of the house. It helped in some strange way to restore order where I could, in the small spaces where things were under my control. Also, I find it soothing to work with my hands, so I did a lot of needlework, even pulling out some counted cross-stitch that takes a lot of concentration.
Last week’s goals:
Make at least three of the five outstanding doctors’ appointments. Only two, but a start nonetheless.
Write 250 words on Prudence x 7. Yes, keeping up with my NaNo rebel goals.
Work on one story for a half-hour x 5 Nope, only x 3, but something.
Although I didn’t meet all my goals, I feel that the clutter reduction and re-organization went some distance to help me do some work in the future, by reducing the “noise” about the place. Now I just need to do the same at the work office.
Next week’s goals:
Get the other three appointments scheduled.
Write 250 words on Prudence x 7.
Work on fiction writing one half-hour x 3.
Keep the tortoise moving on causes.
It sounds to me as if you were very productive. And yes, the tidying makes a huge difference.
DeleteI think my coping strategies vary according to what else is going on in my life. Doing something physical and practical is probably my preferred mode. When I lived in a house with plenty of projects available, I often did something practical (reglued wallpaper seams in the first few hours the news on 9/11 was coming in; planted daffodils the day my grandmother died, after I'd dealt with all the logistics I could for the moment). I don't generally feel all that strongly about elections (I came of age in the age of Reagan, so it took 3 votes for president before I actually helped elect one -- Bill Clinton), but this one hit hard, for the obvious reasons (and even though I had some concerns about Hillary's known weaknesses, as well as great admiration of and hope that we would benefit from her proven strengths, and, of course, exponentially greater concerns about her opponent. Also, the whole business of a highly competent woman losing to a bloviating bully of dubious ability even in the field in which he has actual experience just plain hurts). I've been all over the place since (in part because I'm in the middle of student conferences, with very long days anyway, and I stayed up until about 3 a.m. Tues. night/Weds. morning). At the moment, I'm feeling somewhat energized and focused (at a time when I've generally been feeling neither), but that may mostly be the immediate shock. I'm not quite sure where I'm going to come down, or what I'm going to do, but I'm determined to do something (and probably not just some practical home project), even though there's considerable danger of being swept back into the confusing undertow of life.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess that's more "where I am" than "how I cope." I think I was more of a stiff upper lip/carry on sort when I was younger, and have evolved into somewhat more of a go-with-the-flow, feel the feelings you need to feel and try to learn fro them but also keep up with what needs to be done sort of philosophy.
I'm also a fan of ice cream, but, for better or for worse, that's a pretty regular part of my diet, not one reserved for emergencies.
Oh, and I have a chance to go see a feminist icon (not Hillary, but someone equally recognizable, at least in the U.S.) speak tomorrow, with my niece (at the invitation of my stepmother, which complicates things slightly, but it's still an occasion that hits a couple of my TLQ goals while also serving as a positive counterpoint to the last 10 days. And there will also be some remembrances of my late father, so it seems like a good thing to attend all 'round).
Goals for last week:
Contingent Cassandra
--keep moving (gardening, walking, other exercise)
--get garden plot ready for inspection
--follow up on grant project: more financial stuff, work on scheduling meeting & setting agenda
--make parsley pesto if time
--follow up w/ stepsister
Achieved: some moving; garden plot ready for inspection (hurrah/phew; I guess that was my practical, hands-on activity this time, though a few days after the election); some grant work (but need to do more); parsley picked ahead of freeze but not yet pestoed; still need to reply to stepsister.
Goals for this week (already very TRQ/conference heavy):
--survive (Thanksgiving break can't come too soon)
--enjoy time with niece; be kind to stepmother
--move a bit
--catch up with a friend (we have a date for Fri. -- another bright spot)
--follow up on grant project: finish financial stuff, work on scheduling meeting & setting agenda
--make parsley pesto
--follow up w/ stepsister
allan Wilson
ReplyDeleteHow I did
1. Exercise - some. Swimming twice, a bit of walking. the swimming was a really fun way of doing something with my teenager. I plan to do more.
2. Finish the revisions on FS and WHK. WHK revisions done and sent to co-authors. FS - NO.
Coping strategies- well, one thing in theory and another in practice. I was exhausted this week, and ate a lot of chocolate. Arggh. Not my greatest idea, but I just felt past everything else. (And it was also quite nice at the time). On the down side, I have now started to stress about putting on weight.
This week's goals:
Well half the week has gone so only a few:
1. Reduce second helpings at dinner which have nothing to do with the fact that I am hungry.
2. Use appropriate coping strategies, not eating. Eg, walking, or resting.
3. Have a go at finishing FS.
allan wilson