Toil and the need for balance

Had an interesting conversation with another mom at the boys' school yesterday.
She currently also has a burnout, her second burnout to be precise, and is therefore more experienced in my eyes (even though she laughs every time I speak English and says that I sound like Dora).

During her first burnout, she received psychotherapy, which didn't help much.

This time around, she's taking a more pragmatic approach.
She explained how exertion must be balanced with relaxation, an endless cycle of exertion-relaxation-exertion, and I just know that you will think DUH, but only in this conversation did the thought finally come home.
Bit slow on the uptake, Yo.

Anyway, the rest of my day was spent in this vein, and  I balanced coffee breaks with bouts of studying and then prepping a canvas for painting.
I actually got a helluvalot of things done yesterday.

And you must know, in the 11 years during which I've been teaching at the university, I have only taken ONE lunch break in the canteen.
ONE!!!
Pathetic!!
So much for balance.
Things have to change.


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