Resetting

This weekend marks the first time this year that I feel I have properly worked through my to-do lists in my diary; every item crossed out! There is a distinct sense of reset after a period of deep exhaustion from teaching and marking. At last, I have returned to a research project that began in October last year. I submitted an abstract, which was accepted, and I now have five months to complete a first draft of the manuscript.

Opening my research notebook for the first time in months brought a twinge of guilt. It is difficult to ignore how much I have procrastinated. I also recognise the reality of the academic term: the exhaustion is real, and it accumulates. I must find ways to sustain my motivation alongside it.

Last night, I sorted through the academic papers I have downloaded over the past six months and began organising my data. It felt like a small preparatory step, not quite a beginning, but no longer standing still.