I cannot remember the last time I bought this many books on release day in a one-month period, but I did it again today. This time the occasion was the publication of Laura Vanderkam's Tranquility by Tuesday.
You might remember that I was one of her participants when she tested out the nine principles in the book. I wrote about it in March of 2021. That was one of the least tranquil periods of my adult life. HOOOOOO BOY, I started to explain briefly why it was such a stressful time and YOWZA, I do not especially want to dredge up the memories. (But here's the nutshell version: figuring out online teaching with a dreadful new prep on top of everything else, dealing with an administrative error that left me unable to hold any synchronous meetings for two of my classes, adjusting to post-sabbatical re-entry while also dealing with piles of lingering revisions necessitated by the COVID academic publishing slowdowns, all in the context of our first pandemic winter when hardly anyone was vaccinated yet.)
The scientist in me is very curious, actually: is it easier to boost tranquility in someone whose baseline level is "so far below normal that you'd need a hydraulic drilling rig to dig that far down," or in someone who is feeling more normal?
We shall see, I suppose. As I mentioned at the time, the rules about building productivity were easy for me to get on board with. I am good about maintaining a consistent bedtime; I agree at least in theory about weekly planning sessions even if I sometimes think longingly about skipping them. (OOOHH, MAN, I just got a figurative wallop in the face from another memory: I knew that I needed to be planning my weeks carefully in early 2021, that it was my only hope of staying on top of things. I would look at my massive to-do lists and I would just want to cry. So many tasks, hardly any of which I wanted to do. My current workload is SO MUCH more manageable and rewarding. I have so much fun in the classroom -- time flies, and people ask questions and laugh and stay engaged. It is slightly weird that people laughed as much as they did today when the subject was phonatory physiology, but life is full of surprises.)
As I said at the time, I am better at the work rules than the fun rules. Planning adventures, taking a night just for me-- I know those are good ideas in the abstract and yet I struggle with them.
I'm not very far into the book, since it just came out today (I've already spotted a quote from 2021 Jamie, though). I'll keep reading and report back. If you undertake a tranquility project of your own, tell me how it goes.
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