It’s been a little quiet on Hook & Eye this week, and that’s how you know it’s the end of term in Canadian academia. You know, between the marking, the never–ending winter, the budget cuts and threat to academic integrity, we’re having a bit of trouble finding our bearings. Many people I talk to confess to fatigue, but the reasons differ only to a point. Obviously, my interlocutors tend to be from among my friends and my colleagues, but the refrain stands, and something’s gotta give in the name of self-care and sanity. When I started thinking about this post, I thought I’d tackle my own reason for fatigue, which, at the moment, resides in identifying the best strategy for my eldest’s school placement. I was going to connect it with how difficult it is–STILL–to be a working parent, and how you have to pretend you are having it ALL, because, after all, you CHOSE to have kids (I am purposefully not linking to that article here), even if we sometimes have to hide our families to get a job.
Instead, I decided to say what I am doing for self-care, and to invite you to share what you are or would like to be doing to relax, feel good, achieve a modicum of balance, and renew yourself.
– exercise: I went back to running. Actually, it’s more like running and walking, but I am getting outside (just like the nice palaeontologist, Dr. Scott, from Dinosaur Train advises us)
– watch stuff I like, even if it feels like wasting time: right now, I still have one more episode from the 2008 BBC Little Dorrit, which is available on Netflix. When I’m done, I’m sure I’ll find something else.
– be more laid back about parenting: not every moment has to be an educational moment. In fact, the best education might happen when we just fling ourselves on the floor, and let the kids go to town on us. Mine offered me a back rub. While I was somewhat depleted of hair at the end of it (should have put it up, but didn’t think of it), it was about 10 minutes (an eternity for the toddler-preschool set) of me just lying down!
As a result, I’m hoping to go from
Hook & Eye 