Wheel! Of! Exhaustion!

Yes, I'm surprised that some of my teaching outfits have not featured the ever-present hamster wheel I've felt I've been on recently.  (Would it surprise you to find out that I actually teach on three days this semester and that my Thursday outfits have not made it onto the blog?)

Today has been a little better.  I think I'm finding a way to juggle teaching four (!) classes with the rest of my life.  Well, it's not really juggling when you just find ways to work everyday.  The juggling part comes in when I start to feel resentful or, even better, belligerent.  What fun!  Nonetheless, no one forced me to teach this many classes.  It's actually an effort to eliminate some debt so that we can actually live in Berlin for five or six months in 2013.


What made today manageable is that I did my best not to stress about what I wasn't doing and allowed myself to do a few things that weren't school-related like take a walk with the lady friend, go to yoga, take a midday bath, etc.  In the end, I've actually managed to get more schoolwork done today than planned.  I can drink my beer guilt free!

My biggest issue is that I have a lot of ideas - all the time - and I really want to pursue at least a fraction of them, but time is just not available.  I've already had to cut back on a number of plans this fall.  For example, I resisted the temptation to sign up for the 30-day yoga challenge.  I'm also deferring my entry into the Marine Corps Marathon because I just don't have sufficient time to train (although that hamster wheel might've come in handy for that). 

It's also led me to realize that - hold onto your hats - I don't have to try to be good at everything.  Like photography.  I'm okay, but I wish I could take pictures like the lady friend or some of the other bloggers I follow.  However, it's not my thing right now.  Maybe in the future, maybe not.  I'm a writer.  I type fairly fast (having learned in the era of the IBM Selectric) and am pretty handy with words.

I also don't have to do everything I'm good at all the time.  For example, it's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.  All I'm making is cranberry relish.  For a moment I thought maybe I should make something else as well, but hell, there are other people coming to dinner, and guess what?  They're not teaching four classes.

I'm trying to work smarter and not harder.  To that end my mantra for this term is pacing, planning, and control.  A little flexibility doesn't hurt either.