Top Left Quadrant Check-In

Copying over my check-ins seems to be all I can manage lately. I've felt awful and am overwhelmed by the impending beginning of the quarter and the zillions of tasks, at home and work, that I'm supposed to finish before that.  And sciatica.  I'm overwhelmed with sciatica pain.  Pain makes me grumpy.  I know:  profound, isn't it?

So stress relievers that might work for me.  I certainly need stress relievers for work (when I have only an hour break in a 6-hour teaching day) and home (where our high-energy kid runs me ragged though I am LOVING homeschooling with him right now).  Things I can imagine doing:

-coloring books (so glad to see so many other intellectual adults not only doing this but admitting it!  I thought it was only me! By pure happenstance, my coloring books and colored pencils surfaced last night)
-crochet (but crochet is only stress-relieving, as heu mihi noted, when I'm doing something I know how to do well -- I recently started a slouch hat working in the round for the first time, and it was not stress-relieving -- I'm not done but I haven't gone back to it)
-watching shows (I'm on the sixth season of Northern Exposure -- no Fleischman, don't go!  I love your Jewishness!!!), but I seriously need to consider what I'm watching to make sure it's relaxing and how late I'm watching it
-meditation, when I can get myself to do it
-tai chi, as best as I can remember it
-baths (especially good for relieving sciatica, which has been very bad)
-writing
-listen to music:  this is probably the big one for work

Report on Last Week's Goals

-work out at least twice this week:  I worked out once and felt pretty good, but then later that night I had terrible terrible chest pains, like I thought I'd had a heart attack, but then later I felt fine
-get draft together of short chapter (which probably breaks down into working on it several times this week):  nope
-prep and write several big emails to get those projects done:  nope
-keep head from exploding by engaging in frequent stress-relieving breaks by. . .???:  my chest exploded instead of my head; I was really grouchy at family this week, granted because of pain, but I need to work on that
-engage in research and reflection on what kinds of stress-relieving breaks would work (saying I'll meditate is fine, but maybe there are better things I like more -- I'm seriously open to ideas!!!!):  sure, let's call reading other people's posts on this as "research"
-compile Big Project drafts so I can take stock of what I got done in the last quarter:  nope
-prep somewhat: this I rocked.  I seriously figured out two out of my three classes, including the new prep

So the big impediment to getting things done last week was my health, which would suggest that I should go to the quack, but. . .I don't wanna.  I better, but I don't wanna.

This Week's Goals

-stop munching after 11pm
-engage in stress-relieving at home
-prep and get syllabi to printing by end of the week
-roll back sleep slowly until I'm waking up at 6am without undue pain
-make some headway on the boxes in the home office
-plant elderberry
-make serious plan for the article that is due in two weeks and get major headway made
-get caught up, somehow, on overwhelming service responsibilities
-collect and assess Big Project work
-figure out Absurdist Child's birthday

This list makes me want to curl back up in bed!  (Can I consider that stress-relieving???)

Top Left Quadrant and Ways to Relieve Stress

Yay!  I didn't miss the entry point for Top Left Quadrant this time!  Fall is seriously crazy, and I can't quite think about it all at once or something in me starts running for the hills, but the structure will, I hope, keep me from going nuts or at least the minimize the time I spend going nuts and maximize the time I spend remembering to keep myself healthy, since health and stress-reduction are really important right now.  (I have until December to try to get healthier to try to avoid taking a medication that I really don't want to because of its side effects.)


So here's my post over there:

The upcoming quarter has a ridiculous number of preps and overfull classes, a number of big service commitments, some research work I really want to get done in a very slow and plodding way, and some health issues that I really must take seriously so exercise and stress reduction are crucial.  Before all that starts, I have a small chapter to write and at least one major home project: making the home office/library more livable by buying bookshelves and unpacking boxes.  Meanwhile I also want to keep up with our family projects -- somehow!  Really just thinking about all I have to get done by the end of the calendar year makes me want to crawl back into bed.  So I have to just keep my head down and keep working, but without stressing myself out because of the health concerns!

So this week's goals:

-work out at least twice this week
-get draft together of short chapter (which probably breaks down into working on it several times this week)
-prep and write several big emails to get those projects done
-keep head from exploding by engaging in frequent stress-relieving breaks by. . .???
-engage in research and reflection on what kinds of stress-relieving breaks would work (saying I'll meditate is fine, but maybe there are better things I like more -- I'm seriously open to ideas!!!!)
-compile Big Project drafts so I can take stock of what I got done in the last quarter
-prep somewhat

What are you favorite ways to relieve stress?  Any ideas for me?