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If you're wondering why so many of my posts lately have been sports-related...
I've always enjoyed sports and discussing them, so that's nothing new. I do have to admit, though, that I'm starting to get burned out at school/work. Each day, I go in and bust my ass working on projects with extraordinarily long-term goals. While I've mostly unburied myself from the overwhelming workload I had a few weeks back, I'm still waist-deep in work. I'm working on three papers for publication, two for classes, a lit review for my dissertation, teaching a class, reading everything I can get my hands on, etc., etc., etc.
I know, it's a PhD, and this is what I'm supposed to do... and I do enjoy it tremendously. It's just the intensity of seemingly endless work that's wearing me out. See, I'm pretty convinced that I'm a highly functioning and intellectually energetic person of simply average overall intelligence. I have the energy and motivation to take on intellectual pursuits that are outside my realm of ability and somehow see them to completion through measures of diligence. Achieving that higher plane is, because of my limited faculties, absolutely exhausting mentally.
Weekends and evenings haven't offered enough of a reprieve, since typically I have to do some sort of work-related thing anyway, or I have to work on other life-maintenance things (shopping for food and necessary supplies, cooking, cleaning). The idle times I do find are usually spent staring at the wall, babbling incoherently from mental exhaustion. Well, it's not quite that bad, but I haven't been worth much in terms of companionship for Amy when I get home.
Sometimes people complain about the shortfalls of the department at Kent in casual conversation. Sometimes I get a little caught up in it as well. But then I remember that I am simply happy for having the opportunity to do work at this level, because most measures would show that I don't necessarily deserve it. And I do realize that not everyone can make it this far, and many of those that do get here don't finish. Sure, some of it has been achieved through ability and skills. I would argue that the vast majority of it was hard work and good luck, though not in that order.
I guess two and a half straight months of such heavy working would wear anyone out. I always wondered why academics have made schedules that give lengthy breaks that often. Spring break is coming, and hopefully it will save me from ruin.
So that's why many posts have been about sports, and this perhaps explains their popularity in American culture. My brain has been worn out. Sports are about as far from a dose of reality as one can get.
Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ on March 22, 2006 09:45 AM | Permalink
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