I think many of my problems would be solved by three months alone in the woods. But I can’t bear to leave the children for that long right now — they’re growing and changing so fast, and also, they’re now old enough that they actually miss me when I’m gone for more than a few days. Kavi is running headlong into puberty and Anand is still finding school challenging some days. I could’ve gone when they were little, but now, I think they mostly need their mommy around. In ten years, both kids will be away at college, most likely, and I can spend three months in the woods whenever I want. I would miss Kevin too. Maybe I will drag him with me.
But since I’d like to finish a good book or two sometime in the next decade, will have to keep poking at other solutions to these problems.
Current plan:
– outsource as much of my labor as is amenable to it and that we can afford (staff it out!)
– use technology to avert the worst time wasters / distractions (have the router turn off internet to the house computers when the kids go to school each morning, for four hours)
– get to inbox zero, so I don’t have the anxiety of unread e-mails hanging over my head and distracting me
– remember to put on music whenever I settle down to work, which is somehow very helpful for focus
– keep gardening, which calms me
– keep going to therapy
We’ll see how it goes. Today I have an hour to put into Wild Cards to get Melinda something I have due to her, and then finish up grading papers from 9 – 11, then go in and teach, then come home and keep raking up leaf mulch, which is the big garden task for this time of year. Almost done with the front yard.
I could staff it out, but the exercise is good for me, and I love seeing what’s hidden under the muck. I guess that’s kind of a theme for right now. Spring is a good time for clearing away the rubbish that’s getting in your way.
It si curious, at least to me, that you find music helpful for concentration. I am completely distracted by music and unable to think productively about anything, especially mathematics, if I can hear music. I have been contemplating seeing if I can get noise canceling headphones that will block music, since some people in my life need to have it playing.
BTW, will you be at WorldCon this summer?
Music fills up the distracted space in my brain. And yes, planning to be at WorldCon!