tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368204169382720928.post2444118955688570242..comments2023-10-09T07:43:20.467-05:00Comments on Into the Blue Again...: Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368204169382720928.post-32692083901592286682014-10-23T08:25:59.272-05:002014-10-23T08:25:59.272-05:00I am pretty damn sure that no one has their shit t...I am pretty damn sure that no one has their shit together. Some people look that way, but it's a trick of the light. I've been freaking amazed at your ability to have a tenure-track (which means MORE than full-time with the crazy up and down schedule and the way it takes over our brains and also affects our anxiety levels re: tenure) job, a young child who gets sick a lot, AND working out with so much dedication. In the past two months, I've worked out once, maybe twice. (I also notice that I'm old enough or infirm enough to have my joints hurt after a pretty easy and enjoyable workout. I'm a bit worried about arthritis actually.) I kind of had a rhythm going there for the last few years (though it was a rhythm of putting out fires and always being way late on returning papers and never getting enough of my own stuff done and skimping on sleep and self-care and nearly always letting my precious plants down), but then we moved and now I'm at home more and struggling with how to ever get stuff done when Six Year Old insists on talking and interrupting me all the frigging time. No rhythm at all. Maybe there isn't enough time, energy, and brain-space to get everything done. (What do I mean? I mean that there's raw time and then there's that we can't be working all the time. We need down time regularly and sometimes I'm physically awake and unable to sleep but in no condition to work.) I know this is as panic-inducing as thinking that the problem is one's self. I wish I could offer you something that will make you feel better: a good audiobook listened to in the car (pleasure/delight, which makes things better), or checking out this cool website that says that in each day you really need to just figure out your three Most Important Things (MITs), which does give a feeling of control. (http://zenhabits.net/purpose-your-day-most-important-task/) But I realize you don't have time for that. Maybe a rhythm when your kid is sick is impossible. I know: a laugh! You need a laugh so that maybe then you'll be able to remind yourself how absurd it all is. Sending you big bear hugs! It gets better. At some point, Magpie will be older and maybe less apt to getting sick and you will be beyond tenure and able to focus on work without that in the back of your head. My experience was that the first five years of parenting were crazy. Earnest Englishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01947000435270263070noreply@blogger.com