Do what you can, when you can

Well, Christmas is safely packed away in the loft. According to my fitness watch I both finished 2025 and started 2026 strong. Actually, I did no such thing. I finished work on the 19th December, I had a pretty quiet time but it has really taken me until now to feel even remotely rested. I finished 2025 slowly recovering from exhaustion and being at capacity for too long. The first day of 2026 has been the same. With Christmas decorations taken down, the house returned to its normal, though not yet fully cleaned, state, my thoughts turned to going back to work. I go back tomorrow, I suspect many academic friends and colleagues will go back on Monday.

Anyway, I think almost every year I have done some work over the Christmas period. I thought I would this time. I have some writing projects to progress, stuff to do that is nice, fun. though still work. But I didn’t. I didn’t log on at all. I didn’t read anything work related, I didn’t write anything work related and I haven’t really thought about it much at all. Until today. Because now suddenly it feels like I need a plan for tomorrow and that means knowing what needs doing urgently… and so I nearly logged on. And then I gave myself a good telling off that may have included some swear words and ‘idiot’.

Starting back after the break on a Friday is actually perfect. Tomorrow I make the plan, I get things in order and ready for Monday. Preparation for work is work. It can be done in work time. And of course I forgot the key thing, the thing that I try as much as I can to stress to colleagues, PhD students and anyone who will listen really: Nothing in our job is ever actually urgent. Nobody is standing by us bleeding from a major artery, nothing is literally on fire, nobody is in immediate danger. I deal in words on pages, arbitrary deadlines, reports nobody reads… I am not saying that what I do as an academic isn’t important – some of it is – but we put the urgency into the work we do. The work is not inherently urgent. In fact I think that maybe the work would be better if we took any urgency out of it. If we properly slowed down. We need to keep reminding ourselves and each other of that.

Anyway, I have already rambled more than I intended to! I really just wanted to post to wish you a calm, peaceful, creative and kind 2026. I know that in an academic world that is in such a mess, that wish might seem out of reach, ridiculous even, but we have to try. There is hope, there are amazing people working in universities doing amazing things in spite of the conditions we have to survive in. There are people who are actively trying to improve those conditions – on large scales or through tiny acts of solidarity and resistance. Higher Education has lost its way, that doesn’t mean all those within it have. Resistance is exhausting, it takes its toll, demands a price.. whatever cliche you want to throw at it. So this is a sort of rallying cry but it is one that I have been thinking since I used the phrase in a post for my running blog earlier today: Do what you can, when you can. If we all do what we can, when we can to reclaim at least some of what Higher Education can be, maybe we can make some progress and maybe more of us can return to really enjoying our work more of the time.

Happy New year from me and my furry mental health team: Storm, Kilian, Odin and Einstein. Take care of each other.