Day 7 - 163 -- Finding Calm in Chaos

The day began well. I had a reasonable sleep and felt rested when I got up. I did a few things around the house and then had a phone meeting. The planned chat with a friend had to be postponed until the weekend. With that extra time, I decided to submit a manuscript for a research article. The online process is onerous and requires that one submit a full article file and then take it apart into several parts -- each editorial manager system is different in which and how many parts this might be. I'd prepared for what i thought might be usual, but found that fewer bits were needed separately. No worries -- better to have more than less in such situations. I submitted files in the four categories required. When the system knitted them all back into a pdf document, I realized I'd uploaded an earlier version of the body of the manuscript, so went back to edit that file -- remove old and add new. The new pdf looked great, until I scrolled to the end of the text to see figures and references and discovered the pdf contained copies of the previous file and the new replaced file -- twice each! so there were 100 pages to the submission. Needless to say, I canceled the submission and started over from scratch. Now,  I was into the third hour with this thing. The entry went smoothly. The pdf knitted itself together and still contained 100 pages. The system must be holding the earlier files in memory somewhere, which makes the edit function fully useless. I tried to contact the editor, but the campus system is down so no access to e-mail. There is a major issue with one of the servers so the whole system was  shut down this afternoon.

My response to all the external stresses was to sign out of the journal editorial system and hope that any stored memory might be wiped clean overnight. I will have a go at it again tomorrow and if it doesn't work, I'll wait until next week by which time I hope the campus system is functional again and I can send a HELP message. <smile>  Looking inside myself at the turmoil this was causing me made me look outside me, too. It was time to make supper by the clock and the rumbles from my stomach. While it was cooking, I spent time with the huge puzzle on the dining room table. Focusing on the detection of patterns in puzzle pieces can be quite calming. I then chose to wash my hair to provide a bit more of a relaxation to my decompressing. Each of these things -- cooking, shower or bath, puzzle -- create calming moments, which move me to a better place. The key is recognizing when things are getting tense before it all explodes. I managed to do that today.

Finding a way to regain a sense of peace is wonderful. Some days are easier than others, but it can happen. Lyrics of song fit the idea of finding that calmness. Stay safe. Enjoy!

Peace of Mind -- Boston