Deep rest

This morning I read an article in the New York Times the struggle to find motivation so many of us feel. I myself have fallen off the exercise wagon I’d jumped on a few weeks ago. And let’s not get started about my to-do list.

Academic life has a rhythm that’s deeply embedded in my psyche. This week would have been Spring Break, had Penn State kept its conventional calendar. For pandemic-related reasons, the University opted to start the semester a week later than usual, but skip the week-long break. Talk to most faculty and students, and they’d have preferred a shorter semester. So in the spirit of encouraging the deep rest all of us need to feel and do our best, I gave my undergraduate research assistants the week off.

And I got on the elliptical before I sat down to my computer. It’s not yet a habit, but it’s a start.