I almost didn’t write this. Honestly, I did not for a week until I really put myself to it, or actually just by writing an email to the managing editor saying that today I would really send something. Anyway, we are six weeks into this academic year, and I ask myself every morning what day it is again.
Every day feels the same. Since this Sunday, there is a sticky note above my desk telling me that I should try to talk to someone outside, a friend, a stranger, anyone and go out into nature at the end of each day. Especially now that the weather outside is making the environment out there an uninviting place, going out is hard. But it is in autumn, when the reward for going out, once back inside with a hot drink on the sofa cannot be bigger.
There is a sticky note above my desk telling me that I should try to talk to someone outside
Now I am finally writing this, and I notice what the problem is. I subconsciously have a high expectation of myself. I want to write something meaningful in a time when so much is happening that keeps my mind busy with thoughts and opinions. I realise then all the more, that I miss sharing these thoughts with the people I would run into in the corridors or grab a coffee with. Your study mates who you would coincidentally end up spending the morning with over a coffee and a piece of shared banana bread, creating something new during the conversation.
Then I wake up behind my desk, I just sunk too deep into one of the many daydreams, while staring out of my window. Distracted, again. And I am not the only one. And let me reassure you; you are not the only one as well. When I recently checked Brightspace, I found a page on ‘How to stay motivated and resilient’. The answers were many things you already probably heard many times and thought of, but which, you have totally forgotten at the moment of demotivation.
I am not the only one. And you are not the only one as well
I don’t know any other solutions, but I would like to at least get one thing across: you are not the only one. Especially in times when demotivation is created by being away from the people you would normally share these feeling with, and to in return hear that you are probably all in the same boat. Let me tell you this: you are. But look at this, if I manage to write this, you can now surely return to your paper, group work, thesis or course. Good luck!
