It’s the middle of June. Do you know where your energy is?
Seriously, though, if you’re still in academia, it’s probably been about a month since you finished teaching, turned in your grades, walked out of your last committee meeting, and hung up your robes from working commencement. Even if you’re teaching this summer, it’s been about a month since the packed schedules, the endless students needing your attention, the rushing around, the inbox full of items that need to be attended to now now now.
How do you feel?
This is a good time to check in with yourself, because being outside of the time pressures of the typical semester can give you a much better sense of how you feel about things.
Take your research, for instance. Are you excited by it? Bored by it? Avoiding it? Are you getting things done, noodling around without making much progress, or putting it off because hey, the World Cup only happens once every four years?
When you think about academia right now, how do you feel? Affection? Anger? Indifference? Excitement? Energy?
If you take the time to check in with yourself now, when you’ve had some time to decompress, you’ll get some really important clues — clues about what actually motivates and energizes you, clues about what drains you, clues about what you enjoy and what you merely tolerate. Figuring those things out will get you one step closer to figuring out how to adjust your life to maximize your own happiness.
So tell me: How are you feeling about it all right now? Is it different than it was during the semester? How?
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