The seminar is over. All but a few of the participants have left. I'm still in Blarg City, which is a wonderful place, and have another 4 days before I leave. And do you know what I want to do?
Nothing.
I could write a long blog post about my adventures in the seminar. I could upload photos. I could take more photos (something I've been frightfully lax about, given how photogenic Blarg City is). I could begin to pack (I have to leave the place I'm staying tomorrow and move my stuff across town to my friend's house). I could organize my notes from the last couple of weeks. I could go sightseeing, or swimming, or make myself lunch.
I don't want to do any of these things.
I call these "zombie days." Days when you are capable of nothing other than sitting alone in a room, and that's really all you want to do. I usually plan for two full zombie days when I get home from a trip, where I do no more than unpack, laundry, and perhaps a trip to the coffee shop. I may or may not get up the energy to buy groceries. Zombie days are also blocked in for the first few days after a semester ends.
I find it really relaxing. And I'm learning to let go of the "You should be doing stuff!" guilt. I've decided that if I have an unclaimed day, and this is the way I want to spend it, I should be able to do it that way.
Yup.
7 comments:
Love the concept. I'm going to borrow it, as I suppose I've got the same habits (esp. at the end of a semester) but have felt guilty about it.
I'll just hang a sign on my office door: The Zombie is IN!
Sorry--that was me. Historiann.
Zombie days! I've never heard to them referred as such, but I wholeheartedly agree. We all need some zombie days now and then.
(Although, back when I was in school, I really was like a zombie when the semester let out because my body always waited until then to get sick. I mean, I'm appreciative that it never hit me right before finals or anything. But still. Takes some joy out of being done when you just KNOW you're going to be hit with a nasty flu within 48 hours.)
I am very effective at doing nothing, and I feel very comfortable at it. PhysioWife, on the other hand, has that "need to feel productive" sickness. Sometimes when we're around the house on the weekend and I'm lying on the couch watching a Yankee game, she'll say "OK. What are we going to do?" And I'm all like, "You're fucken looking at it!"
I have learned that sitting around doing nothing on some occasions is what enables me to be very productive on others.
Like Historiann, I'm stealing this idea. I take them by accident, not design, and I think the design is good.
I'm glad this resonates. Steal with abandon.
Charleen, this is what I experience, too. My theory is that, for the final weeks of any semester, I'm not eating well, not sleeping much, and relying on adrenaline to keep my immune system afloat. Once the semester is over, my body inevitably crashes. Nowadays, I just plan on being sick, starting about 36-48 hours after the grades are turned in.
Hi! I found your blog and have enjoyed it so far. I'm beginning my doctoral studies in a few weeks. I've been a zombie for the past month, I think in preparation for moving to my new city and beginning a huge change in my life.
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