After a good month of seeing beautiful places, and spending time with the family, you’d think I’d be all relaxed. Quite the contrary. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few weeks, it’s that raising and entertaining two kids all day, every day, is bloody exhausting. You’d hope to come back rested, but forget it. I’m utterly exhausted, and my brain has turned to mush. I do feel more resilient to overwhelm. That’s what kids do to your brain. They continually overwhelm it, and it – our of sheer necessity – adapts wonderfully. I’m not sure about the mechanism, but it seems that the brain somehow filters the stimuli somewhat. Only let in what’s absolutely needed.
From tomorrow, it’s back to teaching, supervising, writing, and analyzing. Plenty of stuff to do, and taking a month off doesn’t make it less. In fact, things pile up, rather than disappear.
Yet, I am looking forward to having daycare and during the workday locking myself up in my office to finish things. It’s oddly relaxing. Almost like a holiday.
Robin Heinen 