It's something like day ten of my "vacation" from work and I'm only now beginning to relax a little bit. I went through some seriously strange emotions in relation to checking my email, for example. I worked like crazy the last few days before break so that there wouldn't be anything pressing for me to attend to while we were in San Diego, but then I found myself with a wicked email addiction that didn't go away when the work went away. So for the first several days of the vacay I had to fight powerful urges to open the inbox.
It passed, thankfully, and so did thoughts of work. Of course, the India trip looms, and I haven't prepped hardly anything for my spring class, so when I did happen to think of work, a regurgitation of panic wells up in me over everything I have to do before next Monday, and I have to hum and rock myself a little bit just so my head won't explode. This has happened a few times, and makes me want to throw my computer against the wall so that I won't ever have to check email again, so loathe am I to even think about getting back into the swing of things. I am like the smoker who smokes like a chimney, then quits, then gets all righteous about quitting and can't even stand the barest whiff of smoke. Email (i.e., work) is my cigarretes at the moment.
Of course, all of this is made more difficult because of the fact that there really was no "vacation" at all. Nolie barely slept a wink the entire time we were in San Diego, and Eric developed a snore that emanated from the depths of hell, and we slept on a hide-a-bed (need I say more?). So I was tired and probably crankier than I realized (sorry everyone). There were many awesome moments, no doubt about it, and I love my in-laws deeply. The weather in San Diego was gorgeous, and I was overwhelmed with the love and generosity of this family. I was a little wiped out by the whole thing, though. And maybe also a little bummed that I wasn't able to relax more. I think I was just wound so tight from the shenanigans of the fall semester that it's taken this long to unwind a little.
Just in time to head back to work on Wednesday. I'm guessing my presentation on nanotechnology (which apparently has been given 12 minutes out of the entire ten days, one minute for every hour of time change I'll be making. Not that I'm complaining! I have no idea what I'm going to say, even now, a week before I leave) will get done on the plane, and the paper due for another conference will get emailed out from the airport. I was kind of hoping to not begin the semester that way, but here I am.
Why is it such a battle to stay centered? The struggle sometimes makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing. Is this the life I want to be living, so busy and fast? I'm not sure, not sure at all. I find myself facing another spring where I'll need to do more questioning, more reflection, to make sure I'm not just on the hamster wheel for the spinning's sake. I need to envision what I want for my life (a big component of which needs to be peace). So, does this mean some tiny adjustments (a massage once a month?). Or a bit one (like a career change?). Scary work to be done.
It passed, thankfully, and so did thoughts of work. Of course, the India trip looms, and I haven't prepped hardly anything for my spring class, so when I did happen to think of work, a regurgitation of panic wells up in me over everything I have to do before next Monday, and I have to hum and rock myself a little bit just so my head won't explode. This has happened a few times, and makes me want to throw my computer against the wall so that I won't ever have to check email again, so loathe am I to even think about getting back into the swing of things. I am like the smoker who smokes like a chimney, then quits, then gets all righteous about quitting and can't even stand the barest whiff of smoke. Email (i.e., work) is my cigarretes at the moment.
Of course, all of this is made more difficult because of the fact that there really was no "vacation" at all. Nolie barely slept a wink the entire time we were in San Diego, and Eric developed a snore that emanated from the depths of hell, and we slept on a hide-a-bed (need I say more?). So I was tired and probably crankier than I realized (sorry everyone). There were many awesome moments, no doubt about it, and I love my in-laws deeply. The weather in San Diego was gorgeous, and I was overwhelmed with the love and generosity of this family. I was a little wiped out by the whole thing, though. And maybe also a little bummed that I wasn't able to relax more. I think I was just wound so tight from the shenanigans of the fall semester that it's taken this long to unwind a little.
Just in time to head back to work on Wednesday. I'm guessing my presentation on nanotechnology (which apparently has been given 12 minutes out of the entire ten days, one minute for every hour of time change I'll be making. Not that I'm complaining! I have no idea what I'm going to say, even now, a week before I leave) will get done on the plane, and the paper due for another conference will get emailed out from the airport. I was kind of hoping to not begin the semester that way, but here I am.
Why is it such a battle to stay centered? The struggle sometimes makes me wonder if I'm doing the right thing. Is this the life I want to be living, so busy and fast? I'm not sure, not sure at all. I find myself facing another spring where I'll need to do more questioning, more reflection, to make sure I'm not just on the hamster wheel for the spinning's sake. I need to envision what I want for my life (a big component of which needs to be peace). So, does this mean some tiny adjustments (a massage once a month?). Or a bit one (like a career change?). Scary work to be done.
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