COVID-19

Lurking in the background of my day-to-day life is the rapid spread of a new strain of Coronavirus. It has a slightly higher fatality rate than the regular flu and is spreading very rapidly with no vaccination or specific treatment yet.

From what I've read I and my loved ones will probably catch it, with most of us having mild symptoms. Not much that we can do other than the usual prevention efforts (mostly hand-washing, etc.).

Focus

My job is relatively easy to do once I achieve the proper focus, which is like saying that weight-lifting is easy after you practice it for decades.

Focus depends on how many distractions I have and how much energy I have.  It is very hard to exclude distractions when I'm around others; I do best with that in my office alone.

The energy depends partly on sleep but more so on locus of control; when I feel as if others determine my schedule my energy and initiative seep away.

Returning to Yoga

I started yoga classes in graduate school to get out among people. I was past most of my classwork, my part-time job was isolating, and my apartment was echoing when I was alone there.

I took to it very quickly, not so much aptitude as enjoyment with developing more of an awareness of my body and its strengths and weaknesses. I also found that it helped calm my mind, which given the great emptiness I faced with looking for a career after graduate school really helped.

I kept it up until our kids were born, and then life got too hectic. This past Fall though I realized that I had no more rationalization to stay away and have started attending classes again weekly.

My body is different; I am older and heavier. Some things are more of a struggle than I had hoped but by and large it's been very good for the same reasons it was very good when I began.

Depression In an Older Relative

I have an older relative who I talk to regularly on the phone and visit several times a year. She has suffered greatly from depression since her spouse passed away, and basically finds fault with everything she encounters.  It's hard being supportive as I struggle with my own issues of depression. My main coping mechanism is to look for ways to solve problems but she seems opposed to solving almost any issue that she encounters. I really don't know what to do.

End of Semester

Another semester coming to an end. Always stressful even as I know that I will get through it.

Late Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Break is late this term; we only have a week of classes afterward before final exams. That's not really much time to discuss anything new.

For a change I'm on top of class preparation and have my final exams written. I think that I have been a bit more efficient in my work.

Better Organized

For whatever reason I've been feeling better organized for the last month or so. I always have more tasks than time to perform them, so some of that comes from better prioritizing. The opposite of feeling better organized is for me being surprised by a task that I had lost track of, so it may be because I've been doing a better job of keeping tabs on important items. It may also just be a lighter workload because of a lighter course-load. In any event, as someone who derives too much of their self-worth from what they do it's a nice feeling.