I spent the last month doing something I haven't done in a long long time. I didn't do an ounce of writing. This was a time for family (brother got married), children, Christmas, hubby.....
The result? I'm exhausted. All the activities and group chats, catching up, eating, they were all fun of course but somehow I felt this wasn't very fulfilling. I reflect on what I usually do - papers and pen in hand, quiet coffees, thinking, writing - and contrast that with the last month and I wonder if research is now part of what I am. Perhaps this is what a 'break' means. Whenever friends tell me I should take a break, I am always skeptical. 'Breaks' were for people who work, and who perhaps didn't like what they were doing. I love my research. I don't really count it as work. I loved the thinking and the writing, the occasional teaching and presenting at conferences, the dialectical discourses. I didn't need a break.
Having unwittingly taken one, I do notice that my writing is faster, smoother and I am more alert in my thoughts. Perhaps a break is needed just to refresh one's mind. Perhaps research is work after all.
Oh well, the children are back to school now and it's time to start the research again. Time to work.
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