scijessreads

For so much of my academic and professional life so far, I have not been all that great at keeping boundaries. It probably doesn’t help that my career path has involved jobs that don’t have a typical 9-5 schedule (or any sort of typical schedule). Each semester, the hours change. And so much of it can be taken home, so that work bleeds into home life, and there is quickly no separation and I’m always on my computer doing something. Prepping slides. Doing research. Grading. Writing papers/proposals/professional develoment summaries…

I love academia, but sometimes the work-life balance of it sucks. And the fact that there is not always a consistent schedule makes it harder to get into a routine (and I love myself a routine).

In the last year at my previous job (one of these days I’ll write more about it and the quietly toxic environment that it was), I finally set in place a boundary for myself to stop bringing work home all the time so I could have some semblance of a “life” outside of my job. At least one weekend day was off limits for doing anything work related. I have myself one whole day to not think about my job, and to actually have time to do laundry and errands, and just hang out on the couch if I wanted.

When I moved and started my current job, I held to this. Especially when we were knee-deep in the “stay-at-home” phase of things. At least one weekend day with no work responsibilities. And now, I’m trying hard to turn this into two. Because I have so many things I would like to do outside of work (even though I love teaching, and creating materials for my classes), I want to have the time to actually enjoy doing my own thing and not have to spend late nights or super early mornings on my hobbies. My brain works better – and my work overall is better – when I’m not surrounded by it 24/7. Time away, time spent reading and writing and generally enjoying my time to myself, only helps me keep perspective and be able to bring my best self to work and my students.

Only took a few decades to figure it out. But better late than never, right?