You know the expression about juggling a lot of balls. It’s stale, to be sure, but so apt much of the time in our busy lives. For me, the better analogy right now is being the nucleus of an atom with gazillions of electrons whooshing around mercilessly.
I do this to myself willingly because I want a life that is not just busy and productive but also varied and growth-oriented. To this end I am pursuing the next year as the golden opportunity for travel that my cruise lecturing permits. More about that soon in another post, but for right now what I am juggling is a bit nerve-fraying even for a veteran multi-tasker like me.
I am in the middle—actually way past the midpoint—in preparing around two dozen (!) new lectures and revising others for this year and well into 2019. I am also renting out my condo and dealing with everything necessary for an absence of more than a few weeks. When I leave on March 15, I won’t be back for over three months, so just holding mail, for example, isn’t an option. It’s like what you have to do to plan a vacation, but squared. No, maybe cubed.
Everything has to be done now, now, now.
I find myself withdrawing, in a liminal zone where part of me has already left mentally, and the rest just doesn’t have the energy for anything or anyone not essential to getting the job done. But I know what is coming:that blessed sigh of relief when I cross the line, and whatever is done is done and what isn’t just has to wait. I will roll my luggage to the airline counter and say, “let the adventure begin!”