Mountain Time
Over the past week I have been enjoying “Mountain Time” while camping with my husband and our pup Sadie, amidst the beauty of spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I have always believed that “to think out of the box, one needs to first get out of the box”. The “box” here is the daily grind of a familiar environment and familiar rhythms. So often in academia, when a semester starts it is like a train leaving the station, you have no other choice but to run as fast as you can to catch the train and to keep up with the responsibilities. It often becomes exhausting. That is why I took this first opportunity at the end of the spring semester to take a vacation. Taking the time to experience a different rhythm has been very restorative and nourishing to my soul.
Vacation is all about allowing my body to cycle down, allowing myself to feel tired without having to justify the tiredness. It is not uncommon for my mind to make up a list of reasons to explain why I feel tired before I allow myself to rest. During my normal work routine there is always one more paper to read, one more email to answer, one more essay to write. But on vacation, I am able to turn everything off. Instead of a hectic schedule and hour upon hour of working, I sleep more, eat more, move more, and daydream more. Gradually I feel more and more in touch with my natural circadian rhythm. It is truly easy to live in a restful…
