As I write (in the first half of 2023), there are a lot of conversations about how awful everything is right now.
This is not new but perhaps the weight of it seems particularly heavy. Or maybe this is the point where we really come to terms with the myth of “progress” that is so central to modernity. It definitely doesn’t feel temporary, if it ever did.
I’ve been writing blog posts and newsletters since 2009, so it’s not surprising that the topic of how to keep going when everything around you is terrible has come up a few times. This Spotlight brings those posts together.
I hope you find something that helps you navigate the situation you face.
I’m an optimist.
What I mean by that is that I look for hope and possibility amidst the awful. I’ve written more in “Optimism in the face of uncertainty.” “Hope works better than fear” comes at this from a slightly different angle. Another attempt to capture this sense that optimism or hope doesn’t mean denying how difficult the situation is, uses a sailing metaphor and distinguishes surviving from thriving. I’ve also approached this through the serenity prayer.
That kind of optimism also informs my approach to academic careers. You can’t wait for the system to change. I encourage an approach that centres your values, while acknowledging the limitations of the context. The main principle explained in “Unpacking “busy”: the importance of being proactive instead of reactive” applies. While it’s normal to imagine how any given decision might play out over your whole life or career, you only have to plan for a much shorter time horizon. I’ve used a video game analogy to tease out what kinds of options might be available.
Planning tasks and time
Planning will not fix the bigger issues that are affecting your life and work. However, since lack of control is a major contributor to stress, planning can help reduce your stress in the face of dystopia and uncertainty.
In times of uncertainty, it is even more important to treat planning as a practice. The practice of planning helps you regularly assess the situation and adjust your priorities according to current conditions. Just before the rapid shift brought on by the pandemic, I wrote “Planning for known unknowns” in the light of extreme weather events, strikes, and the like. “Planning in uncertain times” sets out some big principles and practical approaches in the light of the high level of uncertainty about many aspects of your work and home life during the pandemic. I extended this advice with a post focused on assessing the risks of different decisions and documenting your decision making process.
Difficult circumstances make the basic principles of planning, and including basic self-care in your plans, even more important. In “Are things getting worse? Or is dystopia the new normal?” I link to several self-care posts I’ve written over the years, alongside a summary of some of the posts I’ve written about the various crises.
In higher education one of the longstanding issues is job insecurity. This might be due to casualization across the sector, or the threat of department closures and restructuring with attendant job losses. “Priorities and boundaries in the face of job insecurity” reminds you that overwork will not save you.
In addition to large scale sources of uncertainty, my clients frequently point out that everyday uncertainty due to illness, child-care and school disruptions, weather, and strikes have a significant impact on their plans and their sense of how they are doing. The strategies outlined for crises like the Covid pandemic also apply to smaller everyday crises.
When it’s all too much.
It’s not uncommon to try to do too much. The decisions are difficult. The context is difficult. You get overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed makes prioritizing and getting more rest even more important, but also more difficult. I’ve written several things about what to do in that situation.
The “Emergency Planning Technique” helps you do something when you are so overwhelmed you freeze. “Two questions to help avoid burnout” is helpful both when you are overwhelmed, and more generally. If you are overcommitted, you may have limited options for getting out of existing commitments, but you can declare a moratorium on new commitments, at least until you finish up some of what’s already on your plate. The “Abducted by Aliens” page has a printable poster you can use to reframe the situation for yourself or to communicate with those around you.
Unsurprisingly 3 posts deal directly with situations in which someone is crying (or trying not to cry). That someone might be you, your kids, your students, or some combination of those. Crying is an emotional release that has real benefits for your body/mind. It might also be a sign that you are trying to exceed your energetic capacity. “So tired you could cry? Enable low power mode” has strategies for saving energy so you can keep going if you have to.
Crying may also be a sign that something needs to change.“If someone’s crying, something needs to change” walks you through identifying the underlying problem, and figuring out what you might change to improve the situation. It focuses on teaching, but the process can be used for anything. (And in teaching, “crying” might look like complaining in ways you think are whiny or unreasonable. Take those complaints seriously, even if you don’t take them at face value.)
There is a point where you are beyond overwhelmed. Burnout is real. You might need sick leave.
Meaningfulness matters.
When things are uncertain or scary, I encourage you to prioritise the parts of the job that are meaningful to you. In a crisis, like the Covid pandemic or political upheaval, you might question the importance of your research. “Being an academic in dystopian times: Valuing your academic work” and “Being an academic in dystopian times, reprise” both remind you that your work is valuable. I’ve also written specifically about why you don’t need to completely change your research focus in response to a crisis.
Of course, you may want to reprioritize within an existing programme of research to take advantage of opportunities to address the current crisis. You also need to consider the relationship between your scholarly research and activities that might enable it to make a difference in the world.
Not everything meaningful happens at work! While your work is important, it isn’t the only way you contribute to the world. If your inclination is to get more active in political or community activities not connected to your work, I’ve written about how to plan for that, too.
You can do this!
Things are pretty bad right now on several fronts. The changes we’d all like to see are going to take a long time. While the choices you have may not be the choices you want, I encourage you to be optimistic. Identify what’s most important to you. Figure out how to prioritize that, given the options available.
Do what you can. Don’t forget to look after yourself.
Related Posts:
Spotlight On: Meaningfulness Matters
What disabled people know about making better New Year’s resolutions
Yep, you’re feeling some kind of way by Michelle Dionne Thompson (written post 2025 inauguration)
