This week marks roughly the half-way point in the semester. For the past seven or so weeks, we’ve rushed from event to event, class to class, and meeting to meeting. When we’re not rushing, we’re planning for future rushing. There are internships to apply for, class schedules to plan, study abroad to prepare for, and for some graduation is on the horizon. This is SMPA, rushing and planning are some of our strengths.
In the midst of the mayhem I keep thinking, “this week I will have time.” And, like you, I then rush and run out of time. I have grand plans to spend an entire day organizing files, catching up on reading, thinking big thoughts and writing big things. Like most grand plans, these are mostly unrealized. Some stuff sort of gets organized, some reading sort of gets read, and my thoughts are more or less the same size as they ever were.
The problem is that time to pause doesn’t arrive on a schedule, like a train that always has a seat in the quiet car. It is up to us to make those pockets of time. We have to choose to stop rushing and planning, we have to choose to catch our breath.
This coming weekend is GW’s fall break. It’s a couple days without classes, a bit of quiet on campus. In this lull I am creating time to read and not rush, or at least I’ll try. I encourage you to do the same.