Things Got a Little Sunny

I haven’t written in two weeks, which is not the norm. Forolavache is like a glass of cool water on a summer day for me, and I love writing here. With the blog, my goal is to do my best to add one small drop of hope or kindness to the world, for whatever its worth. Sometimes I can’t write because I can’t find anything positive to say but I don’t have that excuse at the moment! This time it’s just that the weather has been fantastic. It’s been sunny and warm, but cold at night. As far as climate change goes it’s not exactly comforting (it is the beginning of March in the northern hemisphere), but nevertheless it’s been great. I’ve just wanted to be outside as much as possible, and it’s been a hard fight between getting work done for teaching and my university classes and getting in some Vitamin D.

I’ve gone climbing now three times and will go today as well. And I’ll try to get some work done, but I’m taking the pressure off of that at the moment. I just need to prep my classes as best I can. My students should not feel that they’re wasting their time when they come to school, so I need to make sure at least that their lessons are interesting and useful. However for things like grading papers I’m taking my own, sweet time. (Ok, not really, I’m doing 5 or 6 tests a day, and they take 15 to 20 minutes per exam to correct so it’s not exactly nothing.) My excuse is that when I come in with a positive attitude because I’m happy, I teach better.

So this entry is about work-life balance, or work-sun balance! I heard a rumor that in Alaska some companies automatically give their employees a day off if it gets up to the 70’s F. The suicide rate was so high that if folks had to work through the rare warm days, they offed themselves. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s a good story. We should pay attention to the weather, and when it’s a nice day, even if we need to be working, it’s worth it to try to arrange a few minutes outside to appreciate it.