The Balancing Act (or Lack Thereof)

I'm having a bit of a challenge lately balancing teaching and other professional work. I've been preparing for teaching quite well, and as far as teaching goes, things are going well and I have a super duper smart class. Other than teaching and office hours, though, I have been home doing nothing. This is in part a deliberate break I promised myself for working 12 months straight with no summer break or vacation. And since I finished the textbook reader, guidebook, 2 exams, 3 articles + one revise/resubmit (I'm still waiting on the reviews for articles, some of which I submitted as early as May!), I thought I really deserved the break. But now, I feel really, really guilty about not doing anything other than teaching (even though I've done tidbits of dissertation writing here and there). Here's why:

1. I was ill-prepared for a meeting today. A group of us are presenting at the Watson Conference in Louisville, KY later next month. We were supposed to have our power point slides drafted an sent, and for some reason, I just didn't do it.
2. I've been home, had plenty of time to work, have done no housework, no cooking, no laundry, nothing in the past month even though I have time to do it. One would think that if I'm not working that much, I'd take care of these duties? Thanks to Mr. Clark, he's been doing all the housework lately (he's such a good husband).
   
3. I've been sleeping during the day and night . Yeah, I could be more productive but sleep is good.

I've been dealing with this by trying to cut myself some slack; however, I still feel bad when I don't work [enough], so to deal with being nonproductive, I did the following things/will continue to do the following things:

1. Graded 9 students' papers of 24 (and I just got students' first papers today). I plan the finish the sack by Friday.
   
2. Did some revisions to Ch. 2 of the dis and made an outline for Ch. 3.
3. I've continued a consistent daily workout regimen of yoga. Despite doing nothing around the house, I still managed to do at least 30 minutes of yoga a day.

So, I am making progress. I just need to get motivated to do more around the apartment.
And while I feel bad for not being as prepared for the meeting, I still think that it's not that bad of an idea to take it easy right now. I don't wanna burn out.


PC

PS: I forgot to mention that during my hiatus that I did some preliminary research for the book chapter I'm writing with Nancy DeJoy. I guess I am getting things done; I need to just chill!