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Deidra Faye Jackson earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where she teaches in the Departments of Writing and Rhetoric and Higher Education. You can find her on Twitter at @DeidraJackson11.
Academic Twitter never sleeps.
Here’s a recent case-in-point. @ProfessorJaded tweeted: To my knowledge . . . I’ve never met an academic who slept well on a Sunday night.
Perhaps a truer statement has never been spoken. Slumber doesn’t come easy for many of us in academia who may experience those recurrent feelings of restlessness and high anxiety ahead of teaching and leading classes, presenting conference papers, defending dissertations and master’s theses, attending symposia, and the like. But as we anticipate more peaceful, quieter, and calmer environs on our college and university campuses for at least one upcoming sweet spring break, I’m thinking about all the researchers who still may feel unsettled at the prospect of spending time away from their students, classrooms, and offices or from the usual activity that is generated within their labs, departments, and workstations.
During the lull, I have two pieces of advice for graduate students, early career academics and other scholars, be they focused on self or centered in the work of Academe: 1) Leave, leave, leave campus (in the short term) and don’t look back, and 2) freely undertake your important work, as much as you can, absent the usual hustle and bustle of campus life.
Past and present GradHackers have proposed numerous constructive ways for academics to spend their breaks by practicing self-care and continuing their research studies in ways described here, here, and here. I offer a few more suggestions that may prove beneficial for all of us whether we choose to further our work or literally take leave during the short hiatus:
- Those relevant research papers, journal articles, commentaries, and essays that you’ve collected, tabbed, saved or printed and have vowed to read when you get the chance? Seize the moment and endeavor to sit down and read manuscripts that may prove insightful and unexpectedly constructive to your research and/or your students. And, if you’re feeling especially creative about this leisurely undertaking, devise a way to collect the readings digitally in your hard drive or as physical copies collated in a traditional notebook for easy access later.
- Up to this point in the semester, ponder your effectiveness as a research instructor to students who are new to the research process. Take the time for a bit of self-reflection and self-evaluation. In another shout-out to Academic Twitter, a recent tweet by @ithinkwellHugh got me thinking about the assumptions we often make about how well students process our teachings on the topic of research. @ithinkwellHugh tweeted: Saying to a new PhD student find the gap is a big ask. . . It’s like saying look for something that isn’t there. . .Some guidance from the supervisor could help a lot.
During the interval, is there a more effective lecture, reading, or worksheet that you could create that would better crystalize the often opaque research concepts that you’re communicating to your students?
- That popular or little-known landmark or in your country, city or town that you’ve never visited because you were too busy? Take the time to see what you’ve been missing.
- Now that your academic life has slowed a bit, consider briefly turning your attention to at least one person who’s been instrumental in your life by writing them a short but eloquent old-fashioned handwritten thank-you note. In academia, where supportive allies and mentors often aren’t as plentiful as are stress and anxiety, such personal acknowledgements are refreshing and valued. Use this time to catch someone off-guard in the best way by letting them know on-the-record that you appreciate them. What better way to spend your spring break promoting self-care than to contemplate and laud those who have shown that they genuinely care for you?
Share how you are planning to spend your spring break. How is it benefitting you and/or your work? What advice do you have for fellow academic researchers anticipating the “free” time? Tell us about it in the comments or on Twitter!
[Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash and under the Creative Commons license.]
