When stationery becomes a sign of optimism and hope

Have you bought a diary for the upcoming academic year? I've seen on social media people saying they aren't going to bother. Mine arrived last week. 

When you work in education it can feel like you get chance to start fresh twice, not only in January but also in September. I prefer the September one - it comes with snuggly jumpers, crisp walks and without the barrage of 'sort your life out this second' adverts.

September brings with it a new academic year with its fresh Term 1. This often goes hand in hand with a new diary, perhaps a new set of pens too. For the last few years I have used the bullet journal system and moved from Hemingway’s favourite, the Moleskine, to Leuchtturm for the dots, colours and slightly wider pages. This year I am trying out the Ottergamis dotted notebook. It’s thicker, has templates (not a deal-breaker) and has a cute otter logo on the front (this possibly is a deal breaker). It is a thing of beauty and has gorgeously thick paper. Unfortunately, I’ve just found out it doesn’t have page numbers.

Anyhow, perhaps I am being naively unrealistic in buying a new diary for the 20/21 academic year when the 19/21 still has quite a few empty pages. I’m not quite sure why they are so empty when I was actually busier than before. I didn’t think that was possible. This whole ‘going back to work’ business sounds ridiculous (and insulting) when I, and many like me have been working doubly hard to support our students while home-schooling at the same time - and feeling like we’re doing neither well enough. 

Perhaps it feels safe to carry on with same routines of buying stationery to see in the new academic year. There’s safety in traditions. This year it feels brave and optimistic to say I will carry on - despite everything this year has thrown up regarding work, relationships and health. For now, I am in the fortunate position of being in a new job with a number of opportunities in front of me. 

This year was going to be the year I found myself after having my two children. I arranged passports so we could travel. I seriously considered world schooling when my job prospects didn’t look promising. I was determined. I was going to coach, do yoga etc. Then the pandemic hit. I got sick. I obviously don’t know if it was the dreaded COVID but it was incredibly frightening. Luckily, I recovered and found that while it was incredibly stressful trying to work and look after two small children there were numerous positives; e.g. not being stuck on the motorway worried I was going to miss the after-school childcare pickup. 

Now we have to return. I’m trying to phase it in slowly as my children don’t like changes in routines. Despite still waking up at 5 or 6 every morning, I know I’m going to miss mornings not being too stressful and having all my meal-times with my children. I’m concerned about them getting ill and, besides the obvious worry about their health, the impact this has on everything else. 

One thing I am looking forward to though is being able to hear myself think!  

What is going to be different for you in the next few months? What are you doing to prepare for it? Feel free to show me your new stationery pictures!

Working from home while looking after our children and our well-being

This is a post for all the academic and librarian parents who are currently working from home, home-schooling the kids and keeping the house from becoming dangerous and unsanitary, while doing their best to look after their own mental health.

I keep receiving marketing emails asking me what I'm doing with all my free time?!

I suspect their target audience aren't working from home, home-schooling, and looking after a toddler and cat - the latter who still hasn't got the memo that 5.30am is not a good time to miaow for breakfast!

Naughty Loki!

So what are you doing to stay sane while you try not to be bitter about those who complain to be bored? Such little imagination! Personally, I would be reading all the things, baking all the things, becoming fluent in French, fixing up my garden and planning my adventures for when Covid-19 (also known as 'all this stuff') is no longer a massively disrupting force in our lives.

Instead, this week I am mainly holding back-to-back formative assessments via Skype, while my 5 year old argues that he is the teacher and will take the register (he's already told me the passcode for the school's reception!).

So here are a few tips on keeping your cool:

Go easy on yourself and everybody 

Your kids will be anxious, as will your students and yourself. It's an unusual time with lots of uncertainty. Do what you can to maintain some normalcy. Reassure them. With regards to teaching, it can take a lot of time and skill to develop fantastic online courses so be kind to yourself and just focus on the essential learning outcomes. The bells and whistles can be added a bit later. Can the activity be changed? Does it really have to be synchronous?

Let it go

Yes, there are selfish people stockpiling formula and toilet rolls. Yes, there will be people emailing you to say they are frustrated as they've had to deal with changed assessments and are worried about loved ones while you want to say, erm, hello. But - we don't have control over other's actions and feelings, only our own. At some point, unless we can do something directly about it, it's best to focus on the good that people are doing.

Find a routine that works for you

For me, I am chunking appointments and everything else is working on the premise of little and often. I'm currently: writing a chapter, an article, changing the way I teach and providing support for people on the courses I run. By fitting something from all of these into my calendar, even if I only manage a small fraction, I am still moving forwards on everything. Others may find that doing a day on and a day off works better, perhaps alternating with a partner if one is available. There are many factors to take into consideration, from the age of your kids to who has wi-fi priority, so it may take a while to find a rhythm.

Get some fresh air/exercise (ideally both) if you can

For some this will be easier than others. I'm lucky that I have a garden, although it's in a sorry state, so I can hang my washing out, plant some seeds and blow bubbles with the children and we can all blow off some steam. Social distancing can still involve a run or a walk outside as long as we stay away from people and wash our hands thoroughly, although I haven't done this yet. Additionally, there are plenty of free yoga, HIIT and other exercise videos freely available on YouTube. I like Yoga with Adrienne and The Body Coach (in small doses) and the kids like Cosmic Kids and Jump Start Jonny.

Use all media mindfully

Like many others, I was avidly listening to the radio, watching the news and following social media for updates. I felt myself getting tense, scared and crying occasionally. This week has been so busy with the kids and the assessments that I've barely had time to look. Social media has long since been my way of keeping in touch since I had children so I won't be logging off; however, a little recalibration is very useful to ensure we spend time looking at what is helpful to us or where we can be of use to others. 

Ultimately, this is going to be our new normal for a while. The easier we can make it for ourselves  and those around us the better it will be.

What's your approach? What are you doing to look after yourself?

Being organised when there are multiple demands on your time

I recently wrote a blog post on tools I use to keep organised. It was one of my most popular posts so, keeping with a theme, I thought I’d share with you how I make the most of time. Take from it what you find useful and ignore the rest.

I’ve read we all have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé. That, of course, is true but most of us tend to live very different lifestyles and time can feel very different when there are numerous demands on it.

I also think many tips on productivity seem to be written by (and for) people who are able to get a full night’s rest whenever they choose, have a cleaner or family on hand to help out, or just don’t have young, gorgeous but quite sticky mitts and faces to extricate from work clothes.

So, here’s some of the ways I make it work:

Consider what we’re saying yes to:

I was asked this question by a coach. What are you agreeing to and why? Do you want to be signed up for these things? For example, a lot of women who go on maternity leave end up taking up the slack when it comes to house-hold stuff because they are home. Their main role is supposed to be keeping the new baby alive and content and healing themselves. When they go back to work those tasks don’t seem to be divvied up again. This happened to me too, despite me being the one who works full-time. My only solution so far is to reduce what I have and only buy essential stuff. This makes cleaning and tidying easier.

One thing I have said yes to is walking across campus for meetings. I like to keep this even though it may seem inefficient. It gets me away from the computer and outside for my daily Vitamin D. It also reminds anyone who sees me that I still exist beyond email!

Consider what we’re saying no to:

By saying yes to some things, we are automatically saying no to others. By being conscious of the reasons we are saying no we can do so calmly and without guilt. I’ve been saying no to some things recently. Even though I’d like to do them, they don’t quite add enough value to be worth giving up other stuff I want to do. I know I just don’t have the capacity to take on ‘all the things’ and wouldn’t do the job well. It’s good to keep pushing at the edges (that’s where the interesting stuff happens) but not get to the point where we can’t cope.

Chunking (and protecting) time:

On very busy days I will schedule all my meetings back to back in a centrally located space. It’s halfway located between my office and theirs so shows compromise. If people are late they get less time. If they need more they will then need to make another appointment – currently I don’t have a limit on these but this may change in future. It means I don’t offer an extra well-meaning ten minutes for someone who’s very late. I also chunk marking, email and writing up observation forms.

Using liminalities of time: 

Conversely, there’s always time in between meetings. Time where people have failed to show up. Time in between appointments. I keep a book, a notepad and my phonecharger on me at all times so I can always make the most of those precious few minutes. I don’t start big tasks here or ones that require too much concentration, like marking, but I might start planning something which I can pick up later or answer a few emails. 

Being aware of and using energy wisely: 

Many productivity gurus will say get up at 5am. They'll say use this time to journal, meditate and go for a run. When you don’t know when the kids will wake up and have no-one to watch them while you go for a shower (never mind a run) this can be tricky. I’m generally up at 5.45am every morning (not out of choice) and still get woken up several times through the night (this isn’t as frequent as it used to be) so sleep is a BIG priority. I am also at my most creative and productive in the mornings. As a result, where possible I schedule my teaching, training, planning and writing for then. I aim to have my meetings in the afternoon. I never skip meals as I know this wrecks my energy levels. I can't do large bouts of exercise without being interrupted but can just about do ten minutes of yoga or HIIT with the children and cat climbing on me and joining in - this keeps my energy and sanity levels okay-ish.

Being present with my children

Evenings and weekends are for my children. They are young and need, nay, demand my attention! I’m happy to give it to them. While I still check my phone occasionally to avoid any nasty surprises come Monday morning, I rarely answer email then. This is the time when I take us all to the woods which I find benefits us all. When they’ve gone to sleep, I have about two hours to have dinner then choose to either blog, do my yoga course, plan my coaching business or read. Or just go to bed.

What are your tips and tricks? What are you saying yes and no to? Where are you using your energy? Leave a comment below.