Time, Dance, and Confetti
We’re nearly there. Anyone else feel like that? Like you have *just* enough gas left in the tank? (Or, that you’re running on empty?)
Time? Oof.
There’s not enough of it. We’re pressed for it. We feel like we squander it. We want to be better with it.
If you know me personally or professionally, you know that I take a lot on. Sometimes I’ve been put down for that, and certainly I’ve been judged for it. Sometimes I lose the plot and get lost in werkwerkwerk. But, as my amazing friend and Awakened Learning’s Academic Resilience Learning Strategist Meg Houghton says, there’s a spirit behind my work, behind what might look like ‘just’ busyness.
It’s threefold. First: I want to contribute to less suffering, and learning strategies — whether teaching them, writing about them, or sharing them with organizations and businesses — is how I can do that. Second: my life has been imprinted by bereavement, such that I carry life’s short and precious nature close. Third: creating — whether by book, keynote, article, parent circle, or 1:1 coaching session — is an act of aliveness.
I want to offer 4 ways to reconsider how you might relate to time. I offer them aspirationally. It’s not because I’ve “mastered” how I dance with time, but because these folks inspire me to keep trying.
#1: Time
Larissa Crawford wrote this incredible piece in Refinery29 on decolonizing time and the imposition and illusion of “managing” time, and offers the incredible line, “Radically adjust your expectations of me.” 🤯
#2: The politics of rest
Tricia Hersey, founder of @thenapministry and author of Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, is interviewed on this amazing episode of NPR's "All Things Considered." Hersey pinpoints the politics of rest and urges a reclamation.
#3: Time confetti
Laurie Santos, Yale psych prof and innovator behind The Happiness Lab (and Sesame Street guest), invites us (and teens) to think about time affluence. And “time confetti,” the sprinkles of ease, rest, micro-pauses, and mini-pleasures in the day. This 8-minute video of her "The Science of Well-Being" class is excellent!
#4: Dancing
Well, not exactly dancing. But sort of. It could be anything which we might think of as “taking away” from our schedule (subtractive), but might actually give us back more (additive). More productivity, purpose, energy, enthusiasm, motivation, connectedness.
For me, that’s become dancing. I’ve been trying out some free dance classes at my kiddos’ studio. It means fewer minutes available for work / chores / problem-solving, but the classes add something.
Making time for dancing gives me more than it takes away. Dancing helps my joie de vivre, my sense of play, my sleep, and ultimately my day-to-day life satisfaction (because I’m doing more than just werkwerkwerking). For me it’s dancing, but for you it might be something totally different. (Anyone catch the NYT “Why Don’t We Dance More?” article the other day?)
That’s all. Short and sweet (I honour your time 🙂).
You’re the very best.
Wishing you kind learning,
Deena