I have a few reflections as the last month of the year starts. Mute as you see fit.

1) This is the correct time for absolute empathy. I understand everything you tell me about how students need to learn, etc., but their circumstances are extraordinary.

So are ours, by the way

2) This is also the correct time to say "NO". We are all overworked and overextended.

I am sorry for all those to whom I have said "sorry, I can't make it - not available this year, and probably not available next year either".

It's also quite ok if you say "NO" to me too.

3) I had an extremely ambitious workshop and conference plan for 2021, both before the pandemic and AFTER I realized that the pandemic was out of control basically just about everywhere where I could potentially travel.

I have basically lowered my expectations to ALMOST ZERO.

4) If there is something I don't lack when I am not ill is an explosive combo of energy, enthusiasm and smarts. I almost died four times of overwork over the past 8 years. I'm not doing that to myself again.

I am going to tame my own expectations and schedule with more leeway.

5) My institution (FLACSO Mexico) has been extraordinarily kind and generous to me and I intend to make the best of this. I have great plans that I want to execute for our students and colleagues, but I am going to keep commitments to a bare minimum so nobody gets overwhelmed.

6) There are things that are still moving forward and still in motion: I am planning to plan for those.

(BTW if you are interested in my yearly planning process - this post explains it) http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/12/my-yearly-planning-process-through-the-everything-notebook/

7) It's been a very long time since I have felt this degree of freedom: to do the research I want to do, to study the topics I am interested in, and to actually THINK and WRITE.

This pandemic has forced me to slow down. I am still not down with the "Slow Professor" book.

BUT:

This might also be the right time for reinventing ourselves, our disciplines, our guild (academia).

Let these challenging times be the marker of a new era where there is increased collaboration, maximum kindness and generosity as default settings, rather than the exception.