100 Days of Wonder – #40
What do you do to re-set? I am joining Piglet and the gang in the 100 Acre Wood. I know I should not be writing the story before all the characters are known or while we don’t know which of the unknowable number of worlds in the multiverse we will find ourselves in as things play out. But, as is perhaps normal for so many of us, I want to think through the infinite possibilities of everything that is going on so that I can be prepared. I was listening to the radio on my way back from campus today and there was a lot of speculation about the impact of the US election and I found myself wondering why that particular narrative and not a different one, why that ‘what if’ and not others. The same ‘what if’ narratives are playing out more locally in my world too and the different stories people tell themselves about what is happening can act as comfort blankets or as triggers for anxiety and stress. Over the last few days I have seen kindness and support where it really matters, I have seen bravery and people standing up for what’s right and I have seen many of us have each other’s back. I have seen other things too but I don’t want to engage with them right now. I want to believe in the good and I want to head off to the river where the gang was playing Poohsticks. I want to (if you’ll forgive the excursion to the more modern stories) play cricket with Eeyore. I want to be lectured by Owl, bounced by Tigger and I want to walk in the woods humming a silly tune with Piglet as we go check and see if Pooh has got thin enough to get unstuck from Rabbit’s house yet. This picture makes me believe I can do all that and as I have another random day off tomorrow, who is to say I can’t do exactly that. So if anyone is looking for me, I’m off to have tea with Kanga and Roo. The reality of our world will just have to wait a bit.
100 Days of Wonder – #39
The world feels heavy today. The world was already in unfathomable and senseless pain and today it feels like the world took a step in the wrong direction entirely. More locally the sector I work in is in real trouble and the only light at the end of the tunnel is a great big freight train full of poorly conceived metrics hurtling towards us. I can’t control any of it and I could construct a whole awful narrative but the story is not yet written and there is no point in second-guessing what might or might not happen. That being said, I couldn’t bring myself to share a photo from the US today. So here you have the Castle at Disneyland Paris on a grey September day in 2016. I am struggling to see the wonder and joy today. The world just feels heavy.
100 Days of Wonder – #28
It has been a gorgeous autumnal day today which I spent at our University Open Day talking to lots of prospective students. I like Open Days, they are full of excitement and hope and the promise of things to come. We are also one step closer to Halloween so I am a pretty happy bunny. I’ll talk more about Halloween in the next few days but the picture I picked is deliberately more autumnal than spooky. It was taken in September 2017 which is the only time I have been to Walt Disney World at a time of year that wasn’t January. I like autumn for all sorts of reasons but have realised that I actually just like having proper seasons where you have more than just a vague temperature difference between them. Here in the UK, I love the changes in colour. It’s not just the leaves on trees, it’s everything. They blue skies are somehow a slightly different blue, the grey that so often settles in at this time of year is a reminder that not everything has to be sunshine and roses all the time and the deeper darker colours of autumn just somehow make my soul smile. They are perhaps more muted, less extrovert and in your face than some of the bold spring and summer colours and that suits me. I love the mist rising from the river, the fog that descends, the way you can be stuck in a cloud all day but half a mile down the road it might be bright sunshine. I like the moody and the dark but I like it even more because it is interrupted with spells of warmth and brightness. I also like the idea of autumn as the first phase of renewal. Autumn signifies getting rid of the old to make time for rest before the new. I like that pattern because it so explicitly recognises the rest that comes with winter. It’s not entirely compatible with an academic year cycle through. So as my soul is moving to shedding its metaphorical leaves and leaving behind the things that no longer bring me joy, the academic year really just begins. As we move towards winter, we gear up to be busier than ever whether that is socially or academically with assessments, marking and seeing everyone before Christmas (why?) … and as we head into renewal, at least in our academic calendar now, we are actually getting into the finishing straight of teaching. So I think sometimes my soul is a bit confused. I get more reflective as autumn moves on and I try and be explicit about finishing things and not immediately starting something new. I try and move with the cycle that recognises the move from one thing to the next but with rest in-between them. That’s not always easy, but I suspect it is essential to doing things well and staying well.
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