Back from the brink


Sir William George Gillies, Galloway Landscape (1953)

I'm not entirely sure how the last three weeks became so busy, chaotic, and stressful. I felt completely overwhelmed. Yet I have a light teaching load and none of the responsibilities that many academics have (caring for children or elderly parents, for example); it should all have been a cakewalk, and I am a bit mystified about what happened.

Well, fine, I overcommitted myself, and I took on time-consuming unpaid labor for no good reason other than "It would be nice for this to be done, and if I don't do it, no one else will." (Which in fact is not a good reason.) I did meet some urgent deadlines, though not always in the most graceful or impressive way. But I also neglected some important conversations and dear friends.

It was not a great time.

But at 9:30 pm on Saturday the last of my tasks was completed, and I didn't entirely embarrass myself, and I felt such immense and immediate peace. Sunday worship was glorious. And now I am committed to doing nothing all week but eating, sleeping, working out, and just generally passing my time in rest and quietness.

As soon as I write up my Intro to Philosophy exam, obviously.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Musings upon (or at least adjacent to) the Feast of John Duns Scotus

Image
One of my better covers Blessed John Duns Scotus, OFM, died (according to tradition) on 8 November 1308, so today is his feast day, for anyone inclined to celebrate. I actually started writing about Scotus entirely because someone else suggested the idea to me. That's not a particularly respectable reason to start working on a historical figure (my reason for working on Anselm is even less respectable; I'll get to that at some point), but the interest quickly became quite sincere, and Scotus has taken over my life and then relinquished it in waves ever since. I currently owe OUP the definitive (ha!) book on Scotus's ethics. Yeah, well, I owe lots of people lots of things. ***** I spent last weekend at home in Tampa. It was not a successful visit, since I spent the whole time suffering, and then recovering, from a stomach bug. I did lose 3.5 pounds over the weekend, but not, I suspect, in the way my trainer was encouraging. Our dog, Tess, is not particularly cuddly. She like...
Read more

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Image
Sunset on St Andrew's Day (yesterday), as seen from my office I think I've used that line as a title for a post before, but I don't care. It's a great song. Some beginnings are coming to an end this week. Yesterday was my last full day in DC until the spring semester begins. I devoted most of it to grading and teaching prep. Whoever decided that for my last full week of classes I would schedule two articles I'd never taught before clearly did not have my best interests at heart. The evening was given over to Solemn Evensong and Benediction at St Paul's, K Street, a splendid celebration of the 50th ordination anniversary of the Revd Canon Dr Tony Lewis, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary, whom I've know since my own K Street days. (He was also the preacher at the consecration of my new bishop back in September.) It was a nice smoky service requiring three masters of ceremonies, a dozen acolytes, and enough bishops to start a ...
Read more

Of vanity

Image
  18 December 2022, being the Fourth Sunday of Advent I just got my teeth whitened last week. They have always appeared very stained-- flourosis , as my Edinburgh dentist and my Tampa dentist agree--and I have always been self-conscious about them. Zoom whitening cost me $500. My teeth now look, not gleaming, not preposterously glow-in-the-dark white, but fine. Fine. And just like that, I am no longer self-conscious about my teeth. Why I waited until 55 to avail myself of this cheap and easy fix is a mystery. It suggests (I should like to think) a laudable freedom from vanity, that excessive preoccupation with physical appearance that is one manifestation of the capital vice of vainglory, which is excessive preoccupation with appearance in general. (Not all writers in the capital vices tradition distinguish vanity about physical appearance from the more general vainglory that also concerns reputation, praise, status, and so forth: but tough. They're not writing this blog post.) But...
Read more