But in the meantime all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again (I hope),
- Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fun fact:
This is day 220/365. Week 32. And, as of today, the year is 60% complete.
There is this law called Hofstadter's Law which says it always takes longer than you think it's going to take. Even when you think it's going to take a long time. Even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account.
2/365
Some things that have crossed my mind in the last 24 hours:
- Parkinson’s Law—a task will shrink or expand to fit the time allotted to it.
- Protect your calendar.
- The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
“This past year [2020] has taught me that ritual is the antidote to chaos. Small rituals, when practiced daily, give a sense of order to the mind.”
ac·cru·al (/əˈkro͞oəl/)
[noun] the accumulation or increase of something over time
I enjoyed a short, 3-day trip to Laguna Beach this past weekend. The week prior, I hustled as hard as I could to "get ahead" of my assignments in the doctoral program. And, I realized that I may never get to a place where I have successfully worked ahead of the agenda, and course outline. At least, I may not know the joys of feeling like I deserve to relax for the next 2.5 years.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. I knew going into the doctorate program that I would be giving up a lot. A lot of time. Time that I would otherwise spend with family, traveling, or enjoying other pursuits. I have learned quite a bit in these past seven weeks, about myself and about others, and I look forward to learning more. Trust that it is not a lost point that my coursework is only beginning.
The knowledge gained is almost enough ease the sting of time lost, the ache of academic rigor, the twinge of lonlieness, the stab of anxiousness, the pang of frustration, the spasm of sleeplessness, the cramp of existential flashes...
Sorry. I got lost there for a moment. Here are some pictures from my Laguna Beach this past weekend, where I worked to complete a 3-4 page paper and complete approximately 200 pages or reading.
