............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.
So, that is what I have been thinking about engaging during the weekend and into this week. I will be trying to put down on paper (blog paper... aka... HERE) my ideas, goals, and thoughts. I hope that it will work and it will be a productive venture.
PipeTobacco
............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.
About the Author: The Frumpy Professor has a Ph.D. in Zoology with specialization in endocrinology. He is active in both research and teaching. His rather furry-face is salt-and-pepper grey, and he sports wire-rimmed glasses. In addition to pipe-smoking, philosophy, drinking, and writing, he is an avid hunter and fisherman.
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3 Comments:
None of my business, but I'll offer my own quick list of suggestions drawn from what I've read you posting here:
1. Re-engage your pipes as an ongoing support system.
2. Set boundaries in your relationships at the University and at home. Recognize that other people's issues should not be allowed to affect your equilibrium.
3. Acknowledge, accept, and maybe even embrace your limitations. The contributions we can make at age 70 are neither better nor worse than the contributions we can make at age 40, but they may look very different, and that's not only inevitable; it's OK.
4. Recognize that in order to be as "other-directed" as your faith and conscience compel you to be, you must balance that with appropriate self-care. Even Jesus Christ took "me time" when He needed to recharge after engaging with the crowds. It's not "selfish" to enjoy a pipe, go for a jog, play an instrument, or sit quietly and reflect, as these inward foci should help give you the calm and focus to re-engage afterward with the busyness around you.
5. Accentuate the positive. You can't repair every broken or problematic relationship in your personal or professional life. But you can recognize that you are making a happy difference for the better as you engage with certain people and projects. Lean into those, and find ways to let the joy they bring spill over into the unavoidably icky activities that must take some of your time.
6. Again, re-engage with your beloved pipes. You aren't some 20-year-old who could reasonably make the choice never to take up pipe-smoking. You are a pipe-smoker with a particular history that makes you one, and when you fight agains that reality you are just wasting energy that could better be expended on so many other facets of your life.
The above is terribly presumptuous, I know -- but I write it both from my own personal experience and from my sense of what you've shared on this blog. I hope your own figuring, your own bootstrapping, will indeed be productive, whether or not it turns out to look much like what I've suggested above. Good luck with it all, Professor!
Goals are excellent, and prioritizing them important--especially due to your lack of time to do everything that is assigned to you. A high priority should go to activities that bring you pleasure/happiness. I hope that's realistic given time constraints.
Also, I am thinking that the next semester will result in a reset of sorts.
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