Reasonable-ism

 What is reasonable-ism?  If you are a Parks and Rec fan like me, it's a recently invented religious organization (think Scientology), whose founder sought to write a few self help books for middle managers to organize their office spaces and ended up creating an enormously popular (and crazy) cult around the 28-foot- tall alien lizard god Zorp. The cult's name was chosen because if people criticize them it seems like they are attacking something reasonable. Which is reasonable.



 Recently, however, I have started to think of reasonable-ism in slightly different terms. I don't particularly care whether Zorp will come burn my face off during some apocalyptic end of days, but I am attracted to minimalism, so I am using reasonable-ism as a way to approach minimalism without getting cultish and sanctimonious about it.

Rather than think about what is the smallest amount of stuff I need, I'm more curious about what is a reasonable amount of stuff. I love my hobbies. But rather than thinking about eliminating them, I'm trying to think about what is a reasonable amount of time to devote to each. Take this blog, for instance. I would love to update it every day. But between all of my other writing projects (dissertation, novel, short story collection, grants, job applications), that's probably not feasible. So, since I don't want the blog to fall into disrepair again, I'm going to aim for 1 to 2 posts per week.  We'll see if that's reasonable. 

Self-Care

So much of writing about traveling focuses on the excitement of exploring a new place: the overwhelming sights, sounds and smells of a foreign environment. All of this is true and more: jet lag especially runs the body down and accustoming oneself to a new place can be hard physically and mentally.

In September, I will be heading back to Spain for another nine months, this time on a Fulbright Award; however, I am far more aware of my own limitations and the challenges I will face in a country that is still foreign, but no longer quite so foreign to me. One thing that I hope to do while I am in Spain is to get back to what it means to me to take care of myself. Or rather I hope to build a healthy self-care routine into my research abroad, so that when I return to the States, I am more adept at navigating academia.

Just yesterday, I was at an orientation where we talked about several aspects of personal health: insurance, mitigating risk and even appropriate emergency precautions such as drinking plenty of water and including rehydration salts in your travel routine. The woman who led this discussion also mentioned that sometimes it's okay to watch Netflix or any videos in English if that would help with self-care and ward off any mental health issues.

It's true that entertainment can help pull us out of a funk and transport us anywhere we wish, whether that be back home for an evening or into an even more distant land. However, I would caution against our cultural use of entertainment as self-care because I find that distractions do not provide the best ways of working through issues. If anything, I have found that distractions only serve to prolong the pain of homesickness and depression.

So as I get ready to embark on this new journey to Madrid, I am looking forward to finally figuring out what works for me in terms of a self-care routine that I can maintain even in times of stress.