Anyone Else Hit a Wall?

[the_geneticist]

I want a vacation!  Our Spring Break is coming up, but I'm planning a new course for Spring so I will likely have to stay and prep.
And I learned today that I've maxed out my accrued vacation hours.  If I don't use or donate hours, the extra will just disappear into the ether.
I'm going to spend at least one night away from home, damn it. 

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Health issues have smacked me upside the head and threw me into a wall. Right now, I'm sort of dusting myself off and slowly getting back into the swing of things.

I hope everyone here can get some kind of mental/emotional break to help them around, over, under or through the wall. Oh, look, maybe there's a door in the wall? :)

[AmLitHist]

Thanks for the commiseration and good wishes, everybody.

Today is a little better. It does help to know it's not just me.

[mythbuster]

Not so much a wall as I've entered the La Brea tarpits. I have NO motivation to do anything beyond the minimum. Grading is utter torture right now because of my slow pace. If I had something to look forward to in the next month or so it would really help my mood. So if you have any suggestions of what to look forward to, please let me know!

[Charlotte]

Not so much a wall as I've entered the La Brea tarpits. I have NO motivation to do anything beyond the minimum. Grading is utter torture right now because of my slow pace. If I had something to look forward to in the next month or so it would really help my mood. So if you have any suggestions of what to look forward to, please let me know!

What do you enjoy? Do you have any hobbies or any interest in taking up a new hobby?

I purchased a planner this year that has you pick one thing every week that is the most important task. It also has you decide a reward for completing that task. I had trouble identifying rewards at first but I'm getting better at it. For example, one week I rewarded myself with a new plant, another week I planned a trip to the local botanical garden, I scheduled a movie night (at home) with popcorn, I baked a cake, I got a new kind of tea, a new book, tried a craft kit,...

Sometimes I pick bigger rewards and sometimes it's the promise of a guilt free couple hours reading a novel.

It seems to help!

[Langue_doc]

mythbuster, I like the LaBrea tarpit analogy. I think I'm bogged down or sucked down a quagmire rather than thrown violently against a solid structure. My head isn't going to break, but the brain has become mushy.

I've been longing to spend some time in a B&B where they feed you. No dishes, no cooking, no cleaning for a few days. I might look into it as this is off-time for tourists so I'll probably get winter rates.

[Caracal]

Thanks for the commiseration and good wishes, everybody.

Today is a little better. It does help to know it's not just me.

No, it's not, and this is helpful to read. I just don't care that much about my classes right now. When I'm actually teaching over Zoom, I get engaged, but I'm just having an incredibly hard time grading and prepping and then I get down on myself for not doing these things, which doesn't help the motivation and then it becomes a cycle.

[EdnaMode]

I ran full tilt into the wall early last week and now am stumbling around vaguely concussed, trying to figure out where I put my energy and enthusiasm. I'm even having a hard time putting effort into what is my favorite class to teach, a technical elective for seniors. I think the approaching one-year anniversary of all this craziness isn't helping. It seems a lot of my colleagues are feeling similarly. Saw one the other day asked how things were going. His answer was "bleurgh." I agreed.

[onehappyunicorn]

Amen to the above, I am stoked that next week is spring break. The last two semester have very much felt like "a day is a week, a week is a day" to me. I have a whole series of paintings that I have been ruminating on for months but I need to build the surfaces first and I just haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm to do that. My goal is to make them next week, I can build 4 or 5 surfaces in a day, it just takes time and patience that I don't have right now.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Our Spring Break is in two weeks! I'm hoping that I can catch up on grading during this time.

[downer]

Spring Break? What that?

[OneMoreYear]

Thanks for the commiseration and good wishes, everybody.

Today is a little better. It does help to know it's not just me.

No, it's not, and this is helpful to read. I just don't care that much about my classes right now. When I'm actually teaching over Zoom, I get engaged, but I'm just having an incredibly hard time grading and prepping and then I get down on myself for not doing these things, which doesn't help the motivation and then it becomes a cycle.

Chime on the bolded. This is exactly where I am.  I'm motivated and focused when I'm running class, and I enjoy the interaction with students, but the prep for this year is exponentially more than in previous years due to the specific course topics and complications transitioning them online.  And the grades are much more bimodal this semester (1/3 of my grad students in [hard] course have failed the open-book midterm), so that does not make me want to open my grading queue.

[secundem_artem]

Thanks for the commiseration and good wishes, everybody.

Today is a little better. It does help to know it's not just me.

No, it's not, and this is helpful to read. I just don't care that much about my classes right now. When I'm actually teaching over Zoom, I get engaged, but I'm just having an incredibly hard time grading and prepping and then I get down on myself for not doing these things, which doesn't help the motivation and then it becomes a cycle.

Chime on the bolded. This is exactly where I am.  I'm motivated and focused when I'm running class, and I enjoy the interaction with students, but the prep for this year is exponentially more than in previous years due to the specific course topics and complications transitioning them online.  And the grades are much more bimodal this semester (1/3 of my grad students in [hard] course have failed the open-book midterm), so that does not make me want to open my grading queue.

+1  It's not so much hitting a wall as it is the feeling that somebody replaced my brains with mashed potatoes.  Zoom classes are going better than expected.  Everything else is worse.

[lightning]

Our Spring Break is in two weeks! I'm hoping that I can catch up on grading during this time.

I was planning the same for my spring break. I can't really travel anywhere. Then again, using my spring break to catch up on work is f**king depressing.

[cathwen]

Spring break?  We don't have one this year; this week (first week in March) would normally be our spring break time.  Since I work for a Catholic school, we have off from Maundy Thursday through Easter Monday--so at least there's that.  Like so many of you, I am beginning to feel mentally bogged down, so Easter break will be a huge relief.  One more month...