Day 7 - 120 -- Meetings Galore

For the middle of the usual work week, today certainly held it's own. It was a three meeting day -- one phone and two Zoom. One project nears completion of the current phase, which will move it off my 'desk' for a while as the next phase involved review by editors. Another project has me careening towards a closer end date than discussed 2 or 3 weeks ago. Not sure the newer deadlines are fully doable. We will discuss that at another meeting tomorrow with those setting the deadlines. that meeting saw forward movement but the next step depends on the time schedules of others. The third meeting was a check-in that helped put some things in perspective -- a weekly great help during this time when we can't meet in person.

Now, when I retired, the plan was to complete research that was underway. This will take three to five years of work. Work days were not ever intended to be everyday, all day as had been present in the previous 20 years. I have no intention of working full time and I fear that I may push back when this is demanded by others <sigh>. It is a self protection sort of thing. I love the work and the projects, but I do want to hold onto that new rhythm of being mostly retired. The past 45 days have affected that rhythm significantly, so forward movement has been far slower than desired. Focus has been difficult due to the uncertainty of it all -- something I have difficulty with at the best of times. Managing self-expectations for productivity and not messing with the schedules of others adds to the stress load from the world around me. I often say to others to be kind to yourself. Guess I still need to learn to take my own advice <smile>.

The selection for today was one that I toyed with putting on my answering machine while writing my doctoral dissertation <grin>.  It has fit the overfilled agenda that has followed me throughout my career. Today was no different. New things for that major focus appear regularly. It is just the way life goes. This song has some fun sections and the tempo even feels a bit frenetic -- fits today well. Enjoy!

No Time -- The Monkees