Hello everyone!
Many of us had March break this week. I hope everyone who had one took advantage of it for at least a little bit of rest and recovery. We’re almost into the last quarter of the session and the ends of various academic terms are now closer than the starts. OBEs abound, and I know I feel like I’ve been lurching from one crisis to another over the last few weeks… So I thought we can reflect a bit on our typical crisis-mode adaptations and skills to remind ourselves that we have them, sometimes they feel kind of far away…
What is
the thing that you bring to a crisis? What is your internal crisis superpower?
If you were stuck in on a mountain (or spaceship!) with a lost crew what would
your role be? Peacemaker? Planner? Morale officer?Compliance officer?
And in a lighter vein, for the cabins we’re picking entertainment this week. What are you bringing along for pure entertainment? I’m going to go right ahead and assume we’re ALL bringing what other people might consider a stupid number of books, so those don’t count!
A batch of old movies? Playlists? Puzzles? A new hobby you’ve always wanted to try? Is your cabin entertainment in any way related to your crisis role?
Last week’s goals
Daisy
Paper edits
(if I keep putting it here maybe they will get done?)
Prepare and practice research talk and teaching lecture for next week
Grant accounting and reports
New grant planning session
Edit student chapters
Lunch with friends
Dame Eleanor Hull (carried over)
Keep core work hours.
Health: cardio daily, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: 30 min x6 (2 projects), dead languages x3 each.
Teaching: write more assignments, keep building VILE sites, grade 1 short
assignment and two sets of papers.
Life stuff: collect tax stuff (now urgent), do something fun.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Put into place the “Task List” and “Project” pages of the
planner.
Take notes on a couple of the articles for the potential article.
Search ten articles I have in paper to replace with electronic copies.
heu mihi
1) Power through Aquinas research. This is not going to be
very important, so the fact that I've never even actually read Aquinas
shouldn't matter much (I'll try to read what I have to this week, and then come
back to it as needed as I'm writing).
2) All course maintenance, etc. Prep grad class. Read for subsequent grad
class.
3) Get on top of both journals.
4) Run a few times.
Humming42
1 write and submit extended abstract
2 submit upcoming and late book review (the one that was upcoming last week is
late this week)
3 promote upcoming virtual conference with tremendous enthusiasm (not that I
can ever muster that)
4 write and present morning talk that I regret agreeing to do
5 review R&R for journal way outside of my primary field
JaneB
1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to
defeat me (and because Friday I finally have NOTHING IN MY TIMETABLE plus next
week is fieldtrip week and I'm not much involved so I am able to take a call if
needed at any point)
2) do teaching prep for week 9 (yay getting ahead - I have a LOT to do as my
contribution to field teaching is actually in week 10 and after Easter and we
just haven't even looked at it yet, so...)
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group
5) do a little more advertising about the May Training Course
6) move intentionally 10 minutes a day (I'd put this up to 15, but if I have
feeling ill days I know I can do ten from this week, so lets stick to focusing
on things I know I can succeed with even in a bad week).
Karen (carried over)
Make master plan of all due dates for teaching and honours
supervisions
2. VILE boards done each day, and week 3 and 4 fully ready to go.
3. Feedback done for postgrad article, finish chapter two in the ongoing saga
4. 500 words on KL
5. Weather permitting, paint window frame
Susan (carried over)
1. Finish this chapter (doable) before trip to Library
2. Keep reading ms.
3. Do fun thing
4. Go to all the meetings
5. Keep up with exercise & good eating
6. Set up Mom's new computer (hangs over me . . .anxiety.)
My internal crisis mode is set off by a sense of “too much” going on in my life, engendering the feeling of loss of control. There are several stages: the first is what my mother used to call “the headless chicken,” where I run around proclaiming the sky is falling. This stage morphs into a depressive episode, where I feel sorry for myself and decide that nothing can possibly be done to make it better. Luckily, this stage is usually short, because I get bored with being Eeyore. The first constructive stage is where my superpower kicks in—my hyperfocus on detail. I create a plan, with multiple checklists, on how to handle the avalanche of things to do. As I do these tiny steps and strike through them on the checklist, I start to feel better. Therefore, I would do well as the planner of the lost crew, if allowed to freak out and Eeyore my way through the first day or so.
ReplyDeleteFor entertainment, I would have lots of old movies, which has nothing to do with my crisis superpower. The crafty side of me, although perhaps not strictly entertainment, does require a lot of planning, and tracking, and organization, which does fit. I would have to take my knitting, counted cross stitch, needlepoint, handquilting and such. For a new hobby, I have wanted to learn blackwork for a long time, and I’d like to try my hand at that as well.
Last week’s goals:
Put into place the “Task List” and “Project” pages of the planner.
Yes, which helped calm the mid-semester feelings of loss of control.
Search ten articles I have in paper to replace with electronic copies. Yes. I also worked out a filing name system that keeps the handwritten notes I had on some of the older photocopies with the electronic version.
Take notes on a couple of the articles for the potential article. Again, no. I had several research questions and meetings this week. I am going to take notes on them today.
Next week’s goals:
Life stuff: Write doctor re osteoporosis appointment; make other two doctors’ appointments.
Finish weekly meal planning pages.
Take notes on a couple of articles—this is a bit of a cheat, but I want an easy win!
Search ten articles I have in paper to replace with electronic copies.
Mostly the same stuff, but slow progress is better than none. Happy vernal equinox (or autumnal equinox if you are in the southern hemisphere), everyone! Float like mist.
That sounds like a good week! Slow progress does add up.
DeleteFor crisis mode... well, my family reputation is that I'm the person who falls apart AFTER the crisis, but is annoyingly calm during it. It used to be true - I'm the person making terrible jokes that break the tension, distracting attention from those who need to have a flap in peace, being good at proposing the immediate steps to keep us all safe/stop things getting worse whilst the planners get their stuff together. Then I get REALLY talkative, then ratty and shaky, then I need a NAP.
ReplyDeleteFor entertainment, I'm going to assume books AND pen and paper are a given, and I'm going to take drawing and painting supplies. I dabble, a little, and I like my own ideas if I'm honest, but I need to practice, practice, practice. The cabin might be a good place to do that!
LAST WEEK:
My hip/sciatica was really painful over the weekend and I was just melting down mentally, so I postponed a laboratory practical for a couple of weeks (the Last Straw was having submitted the risk assessment quite well in advance and not yet having it back by the day before the class, so I was panicking about whether doing an unauthorised class would be dangerous - this is a VERY safe lab, but still, and just decided that I couldn't wait to see if it would be approved. It was approved a couple of hours before what should have been the class time...). The upper two years were just over coming to classes - the fives have field trips this coming week, some of the sixes have opted to go too (to make up for the trips they missed due to COVID), all the sixes have "only" three weeks left to write their honours projects (they've had eleven months, but...), and in general attendance has been plummeting anyway. It was not a good week. On Thursday I finally got my tooth fixed (damaged filling, neglected due to COVID stuff) and it went FINE but I was very anxious beforehand and had a bit of a crash afterwards (I do not do well with local anaesthesia) and my sleep is just... rubbish. I'm one of a small minority of people NOT involved in one of the field trips, and THANK GOODNESS because I am DONE (and I have so much work to do anyway...).
1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to defeat me didn't
2) do teaching prep for week 9 didn't
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days three days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group no
5) do a little more advertising about the May Training Course no
6) move intentionally 10 minutes a day YES. even on the dentist day when I felt awful I did two moving meditations from this thing I'm subscribed to, and even for me who hates exercise and creaks they were something close to enjoyable
THE COMING WEEK
1) call GP about anxiety etc. because this is not going to defeat me
2) do teaching prep for week 9, start week 10
3) make time to read or do D&D prep 4 days
4) Send an email to the "Why" author group
5) do a little more advertising about the May Training Course
6) move intentionally 10 minutes a day (assuming I will Go Flop as per usual)
7) read & comment on draft text for two grad students
8) start grading two lots of projects from the fives (mine & the set for the colleague who's been cool with me doing the prep and the online version of our shared classes and him doing the on campus versions).
I always crash after the dentist, even easy visits that are just cleaning. Something about it is inherently stressful, I think.
DeleteGlad that you are enjoying the moving meditations thing! It is fun to have something that helps with intentional movement and feels like a win every time you do it...
DeleteTotally get the crash after stressful event - once something big is over for me I need a serious sleep-in or something like that!
Your cabin will be a wonderfully peaceful place for all the drawing practice, and there will be interesting landscapes and plants and rocks to practice on too!
Not so much crisis here (unless you count an emergency evacuation for a malfunctioning alarm) but frantic paddling just trying to keep up - getting an additional class dropped on me, and a long weekend which while lovely, meant no buffer time, and all in all the last two weeks of work have just been about keeping up. And I'm noticing what a difference two weeks of no yoga classes make to mind/body/mood. On the positive side, road trip, walking and holiday house with perfect deck for sunset cheese and drinks with lovely people does justify the work to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteSo to catch myself up:
1. Make master plan of all due dates for teaching and honours supervisions - yes, and finding it handy
2. VILE boards done each day, and week 3 and 4 fully ready to go. - Have been keeping up (just)
3. Feedback done for postgrad article, finish chapter two in the ongoing saga - yes
4. 500 words on KL - nope
5. Weather permitting, paint window frame - nope, but have potted on seedlings
This week:
1. Keep up VILE boards, have weeks 6 & 7 content checked and automated, get first assessment task marked and back
2. Finish off postgrad edit saga (chapter 3 and conclusion)
3. Write exhibition proposal and send to writing group
4. get to yoga class x2
Crisis superpowers - under-reacting, I think. I'm reasonably good (when not over tired or burnt out) at pausing/compartmentalising my emotional reaction and focusing on logistics. Also good at making back up plans for back up plans.
Cabin entertainment - I think I'd just take all the things I have at home, but don't prioritise time for (knitting and sewing supplies, seed box and gardening tools, musical instruments). Or can we bring in entertainment? In a fantasy world, I'd have house (or garden concerts of favourite musicians with a select groups of friends and family.
Ooh, road trip and holiday house both sound lovely! And lists of due dates are so helpful.
DeleteIt is your fantasy cabin, so you can bring whatever entertainment you want! A salon with music performances in a lovely place sounds fantastic!
DeleteGood luck with the post-grade editing saga. I'm up to my ears in the same kind of thing and it is draining in all kinds of ways...
My superpower is endurance. Not necessarily getting things done, but just hanging on. I'm not very good at thinking under stress, but if lost in space (or wherever) I'd probably do well as a cook, or housekeeper, figuring out how to keep people fed, watered, cleaned, and medicated while someone else did the hard thinking. I always want to fall apart, but keep a grip because falling apart is so not helpful.
ReplyDeleteI did manage to report on the week before last's goals in comments on week 10, though I didn't set any goals for the week just past. What I did: graded a set of papers plus a small assignment that not many people turned in; graded some stray late stuff; put a couple of short/simple assignments on the VILE site; stared at a lot of notes toward a conference paper, and ILL'd more books for it; booked travel for the said conference; read some fluff; went for a long walk with a friend we hadn't seen in months.
New goals:
Keep core work hours.
Health: cardio x6, stretch x6, track bedtime.
Research: draft conference paper, do at least one thing for book, dead languages x2 each.
Teaching: write the last 5 assignments, keep building VILE sites, grade 1 short assignment.
Life stuff: spend time with visiting friend, decide where to stay on one unbooked night, tidy house at least a bit before friend's visit.
I also sent a lot of e-mail regarding another work thing that fell on me last week (well, actually I volunteered, nearly a year ago, and then forgot about it). And you can read about the Great Cat Rescue Event that stole two days in last week's comments.
DeleteYay for getting things done even with the Great Cat Rescue! Hope everyone is settling back down and recovering!
DeleteEndurance is a fantastic superpower to have! Every army or band of lost space travelers needs feeding and watering...
In a crisis I’m the very calm practical one. Lists, breaking down next steps, good at dealing with the immediate needs kind of thing… Compartmentalizing is for sure my superpower. However, I’m not great with reassurance to other parties, and bad at accommodating what I see as excessive emotions so I’m the “let’s put out the fire right now, you can cry about it next week” one. So I probably should not be the morale officer…
ReplyDeleteCabin entertainment definitely needs some thought. I’d love to be better at drawing so I will take supplies and a “how-to” for beginners book. And I do love big puzzles so there will be a few of those. And yarn for the “one day I’ll make one” lace project – this is aspirational because I only recently learned how to knit and have not really made it past the “rectangular object” stage…
Last week’s goals
Paper edits (if I keep putting it here maybe they will get done?) OF COURSE NOT…
Prepare and practice research talk and teaching lecture for next week YES, REALLY STRESSED ABOUT THESE…
Grant accounting and reports SOME
New grant planning session YES
Edit student chapters YES
Lunch with friends YES
What a week… Everyone working on our conference is stressed to the max. My students are struggling, I’m struggling, and if we can all hang on for another two weeks things will calm down. They will, right? Right??? Probably not, but I’m ok with lying to myself right now. The talks I have this week are for an interview that is potentially life-changing… I don’t think I’ve ever been this stressed out about any professional activity. And that is saying something…
This week’s goals
Survive until Wednesday
Finish/give research and teaching talks (see point above)
Paper edits
Accounting
Student chapters
All the stuff I owe everyone?
Oh, I'm also terrible at reassurance! I have enough to do managing my own emotions and compartmentalizing; I just can't take on anyone else's! "Break a leg" at the the research & teaching talks!
DeleteThanks for the good wishes! Everything under my control went really well, I was very happy with how I did. Now I will try very hard to forget it ever happened!
DeleteI hope the interview goes well, Daisy--I'll send positive thoughts your way. Also, I hope things get less stressful--that makes everything worse!
ReplyDeleteThanks! There was a big sigh of relief for sure!
DeleteI'm a planner, no question. I spring into How To Fix It Mode anytime something goes awry. I do need to work on living with uncertainty....
ReplyDeleteEntertainment: knitting supplies and a streaming video service with plenty of lightweight series...es. I'd be very happy. (With the books, too, of course.)
Last week:
1) Power through Aquinas research. This is not going to be very important, so the fact that I've never even actually read Aquinas shouldn't matter much (I'll try to read what I have to this week, and then come back to it as needed as I'm writing). - YES; feeling very proud of this one! I have one more article to read and some stuff to work into my vignette, but the vignette is otherwise WRITTEN.
2) All course maintenance, etc. Prep grad class. Read for subsequent grad class. - Wow, did very little here, and yet, I'm not behind. Go figure.
3) Get on top of both journals. - No, not really. Sigh.
4) Run a few times. - Twice, which is marginal, but it was impossible Fri-Sun. I also went to a LIVE (masked) yoga class!
This week:
1) Deal with at least one journal article.
2) Finish up the Aquinas loose ends.
3) Read for next week's grad class (I'm not ahead anymore!).
4) Grade papers.
5) Various sabbatical-related emails.
Yay for the written vignette! And all the class prep from before clearly paid off...
DeleteGood luck getting ahead on the grad class again!