{"id":3563,"date":"2020-07-20T12:13:55","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T12:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/goals-for-today-pandemic-diaries\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:29:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:29:46","slug":"goals-for-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/goals-for-today","title":{"rendered":"Goals for today: Pandemic diaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/span><\/i><\/b> This story was originally published by Dr. Agnes Bosanquet on her blog The Slow Academic<\/a>. It has been republished here with permission.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/i>This post is simple. Perhaps too simple for these complex times; and written from a place of safety and privilege as I watch and listen to the turmoil of the world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Every day\u2014weekday or weekend, work day or holiday, ordinary day or significant in some way\u2014I hold on to the same goals.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These quotidian goals offer a means of self-care, and resist a productivity mantra that suggests looking years ahead and working backwards through the achievement of daily tasks. They are also a way to challenge myself to listen to others and to read from different perspectives, and offer a chance to reflect on our complicated and delicate lives and world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Join an interesting conversation<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Still working from home, I am missing informal and impromptu social interactions. With most of my communications happening via Zoom (or Teams or Skype or FaceTime or phone), I am also missing conversations where people can interrupt or talk across the top of one another! (Those who know me well know my love of interrupting, to my shame).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the positive side, I have needed to focus on listening. Some of the conversations I am finding my way into are via social media, podcasts and webinars. In a time when our lives are contracted and closer to home, viewpoints such as\u00a0Listening to the City in a Global Pandemic<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/span>, which shares the voices of academics in various countries, open up the world. From a non-academic perspective, the BBC\u2019s\u00a0The Documentary\u00a0podcast<\/span><\/a><\/i><\/span><\/span>\u00a0tells powerful stories of isolation and togetherness.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Today I listened to presentations from my university\u2019s Widening Participation team about the impact of COVID-19 on student learning.\u00a0 Perspectives included charity, government and university, with a focus on vulnerable students. The insights about student experiences of food insecurity, racism and domestic violence were frightening, yet the speakers were hopeful activists.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Eat something good<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Right now, I am eating a scone my daughter cooked at school in food tech, with a cup of Earl Grey tea.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Scones<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Spend time outdoors<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On many days, being outdoors is as simple or as brief as the\u00a0walk to school<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u00a0or time in the garden. On bad or impossible days (few now), I enjoyed the view out a window or the pine cone on my desk (a gift from a colleague\u2014thank you Linda).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We regularly walk together as a family\u2014bushwalks in and around Sydney are truly wonderful. A fortnight ago, we took the\u00a0Callicoma Track<\/i><\/a>\u00a0with friends. Last weekend lasted three days in some parts of Australia; we visited the coast an hour out of Sydney and enjoyed a windy clifftop walk to the sound of the waves (thankful for our puffy jackets).