Maybe this blog (which, btw, celebrated its 11th anniversary this Wednesday!) is the most visible symptom of the enmeshment of my life and work, how I sometimes feel like I become my work, how my identity is wrapped up in my “adventures in oceanography and teaching”. And another symptom is that I really like to listen to work-related podcasts while on walks. But maybe this is not healthy? On the other hand, as long as I enjoy it, maybe it is?

The podcast Squiggly Careers (which deals with career advice for non-straightforward, “squiggly” career paths) is currently doing a “sprint” on career skills. They share lots of great advice and actionable strategies, and two episodes spoke to me especially. The first one was on work-life-fit, and that is where I am borrowing the “enmeshment” language from. I was probably aware that reading lots of books for work from my couch in the evening or during weekends is not the most healthy way to recover and recharge from work, and that cutting out hobbies, meeting friends and family, eating something quick rather than taking time to prepare a healthy meal is not good. But it did not hit me how unhealthy it is until I listened to this episode. I tend to have all the books I want to read out on my couch at home next to my laptop, in case inspiration strikes and I want to dig into something more deeply (which I often do). But that also means that I never really disconnect from work because it is always visible, in my face, and something that wants attention and occupies a little piece of my mind, even when I don’t want to give it to it right then.

Strategies that they recommend on Squiggly careers are to approach work with a clear idea to, for example, work early mornings OR late nights, but not both. And to take a work-in-progress approach, where there should be room for development within working hours and in the work space, rather than trying to do the development on my own time in my own space to be prepared as best as possible before I am back in the office (and I have done that SO MUCH, especially where it comes to Teaching for Sustainability, because I feel so strongly that I need to learn faster and read more than I can within work hours).

Another day, I then listened to another one of my favourite podcasts, the Academic Imperfectionist, where she talks about the power of rest. In sports, rest days are part of any good training plan, and they are often not just scheduled as rest days, but complemented with specific nutrition, or cold exposure and sauna, or other activities that help the body heal from training and come back stronger. But that is not how I approach rest from work! Here, another episode of the Squiggly careers sprint on energy was really helpful to me, because they describe the concept of “active rest”: Resting from work while engaging our brains fully into something that is not work! When I am really exhausted, I often try to “switch off” my brain by watching stupid youtube videos or sleeping, but that ends up feeling like wasted time, and definitely not restful. So this is a good place to start changing things!

They also suggest other strategies. One is being clear on boundaries (i.e. figuring out what I need to protect? Like 8 hours of sleep?) and boosts (what do I get energy from? And then put that on your schedule). This means also scheduling rest after things I know I find draining, so planning for a weekend of wave watching after teaching a block course. They suggest the approach of managing energy rather than time, and that makes a lot of sense!

But in the end, I still don’t know where to set the boundaries. Not just about what I am being paid to do, and what is “mine” and “not mine” (see Karen Costa’s Scope of Practice). I can push back on tasks that someone else should be doing, but with Teaching for Sustainability, there is nobody I can delegate anything to, and I feel like I need to do it, because it is so important and so urgent. But let’s see, at least right now I am completely sore from last night’s training that I did make time for, so maybe I’ll figure out a way to not burn out!