the encouragement lounge: When the kitchen gets too hot, you may have to move to the living room

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

When the kitchen gets too hot, you may have to move to the living room

Ok, I won't bore you with the details... but as you know, I'm in the midst of somewhat significant technical difficulties. Long story short, this morning, several things went wrong and I got pretty frustrated. Finally, I realized, I need to step away from the computer, and I went to the gym for a break. When things really start to go wrong, sometimes our tendency is to think we need to hunker down and work at it even harder. But sometimes, we need to take a break, calm down, get some perspective, and then come back with some fresh energy to tackle the problems. So next time it gets all crazy and the intensity is building... remember to step away if you need to -- take a walk, call a friend, work out... whatever helps you move beyond that space of heightened stress. Of course, the computer or whatever the problem is, doesn't fix itself while you are away, but I believe that we can come back better able to solve the problems, from a more calm place.

Good luck with the work!

Harriet

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Working adult students, on my mind...

I hope this blog will be helpful to friends and others involved in a variety of endeavors. However, I created the blog with students in mind and continue to develop it with that specific group as my focus.

I believe that with the increase in evening, weekend, and low-residency programs, students are working more and more in isolation. If we were all full-time students on campus, we would have the informal support that comes with being able to go down the hall and talk with a colleague, etc. But instead, we are working late nights and weekends at home in front of the laptop.

With that in mind, I hope the encouragement lounge provides brief moments of respite and energizing connection. This does not at all replace valuable face-to-face contact. Many aspects of the academic journey can only be addressed via in-depth conversations with colleagues and teachers. And I would always rather sit down and talk with someone than to communicate online. Nonetheless, my aim is to give you one more channel for quick hits of support.