What a (good!) day...

Sometimes being in a PhD program is a drag. There are so many books to read, so much abstraction to wade through, so much critique to be done that the simple joys of life get lost. They get lost because they are not as immediate as the demands of the Academy. So it is with most professions I suppose but the Academy is a little different. The Academy, the academic life, is primarily a life of thought and deep thought demands a certain degree of leisure. Yet with the demands of books, papers, presentations, emails, colloquiums, conferences, publications and meetings, that leisure gets lost. And with the loss of leisure goes, I believe, some of the opportunity for deep thought.

I had a immensely productive academic day today. Yet my work was couched within the confines of leisurely, pleasurable activities: a long morning hike, a trip to the coffee shop, grilling burgers outside after the rain. There might be something to that pattern: when my work is done within the context of refreshment and enjoyment and play, the work itself ends up being more productive and of better quality. I suppose that is something to think about.