Monthly Update: June 2020
Day trip to Cannon Beach
Just a quick note before you head into the blog post. Are you an academic who is trying to figure out your long term planning processes? My planning course, plan(it)*, can help support you as you figure that out. Check out the link for more info.
July is here and even though at the start of June I was feeling exhausted and energized, this month I think I’m just feeling exhausted. The end of the school year has come and gone and any energy I had has disappeared. Which brings me to my next point, like last summer, I’ll be pausing updates, picking back up in October, or maybe September depending on how I’m feeling.
In this month's newsletter I shared a bit about letting go of my goals and how I’m prioritizing written self-reflection this summer, along with movement and music. I also shared a link to a Kimya Dawson song from 2015 that’s been playing on repeat in our house lately called At the Seams. If you haven’t heard it before, give it a listen.
Now let's move into what I was working on during the month of June.
research
Paper 2: Paused
Systematic review: Paused
Focus group data collection: Paused
Funding applications: All of my research efforts went into an LOI for a funding application that was due at the end of June. Despite the fact that it was an LOI and not the full proposal, it was incredibly extensive and might as well have been the full thing given the amount of detail that had to go into it. Of course, all of this work will help out, whether or not I get funding, but in the moment I was annoyed at the detail that was required. The end of the school year felt quite anti-climatic because I went directly from assignment grading to grant writing. Now that it’s in, my plan is to ease up on most work across all areas for the summer.
teaching
Online stats and human development teaching: During the first half of the month (before grades were due) this is where most of my efforts went. Grading and providing feedback, following up with students who hadn’t turned things in, entering grades, answering emails, etc.
Lead instructor: Created some videos about course resources and walking through the online version of the course for fall instructors. While I usually schedule a check-in with instructors, I was not up for it this year.
service + admin
Planning: Continued my weekly planning routine with Friday afternoon work planning and Sunday afternoon/evening personal planning until the school year ended. Then I moved into summer planning mode where I have a general list for the week but all the details aren’t mapped out as precisely.
personal
Toddler on the Tenure Track/plan(it)*: I got 2 content posts up in June, one about my response to students the week after George Floyd’s murder and the other about what happened to my 2019-20 plans. I also worked a lot on getting plan(it)* set up for July.
Meditation: Still meditating 15 minutes per day right after I wake up. I think there was one day where I missed because we were off our usual routine and I completely forgot. I’m thinking about upping 15 minutes to 20 minutes soon.
Health: I hit a bit of a rut with lifting, just wasn’t feeling it lately. We’ve been trying to go for walks instead, but it doesn’t feel the same. Planning to pick back up with lifting in July, especially since I have an appointment with the spine dr. coming up. I want to make sure I’m active/nothing is bothering me before heading into the appointment.
Budget: Continued with weekly budgeting and set up July’s budget. There have been whispers of potential faculty furloughs 1 day a week next year. Not sure if that will happen, but if it does it would definitely have big implications for our finances. This summer I’ll be figuring out what that might look like, budget-wise.
Celebrations: Our 9th wedding anniversary!!
See you in the fall!