I wanted to post this while we were in Costa Rica but the year flew by….I wrote this about a year ago but it feels like a good reminder
1/2019: I think a lot about time here and the multidimensional value of sabbatical life. For those of you who know me, my tendency for work (and life in general) is to pile it on. Maybe it is just me or part of being embedded in this larger go-go-go culture, but I have been very aware of this machine-like tendency and its implications for spending way too much time in my head plotting my days: the household division of labor, my many to do lists and schedules, and how could I possibly add another set of assignments to grade, another evening to take Milo to Untapped (local game store) for Dungeons and Dragons, another stop at Target on the way home from work, another, another….
Being on sabbatical has been this amazing privilege of increased spaciousness and time that should be more widely available. But even when I first plotted out my research plans for Costa Rica, it was a large pile – with plans to do a food security research project at the Center for Social Action at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Jose while also working on a local sustainability project through my research affiliation with the Monteverde Institute. Fortunately within the first couple of months, it became clear for multiple reasons that I needed to let go of the food security project at UCR, and settle into working on ONE project with the Monteverde Institute.
Juliet Schor talks about “Downshifting” in her book, The Overspent American: Upscaling, Downshifting, And The New Consumer. She wrote this a while ago but her message has resonated as I frequently ask myself, is this pile mentality really serving me?
Even though I still fall into the busy trap here, I am trying to downshift and embrace the notion that less is really more. Here on some examples:
PRIVILEGING LOVE and RELATIONSHIPS: At orientation back in August at Milo’s school, the head of school explained, “the teacher’s first and primary job is to love our children.” I could feel the goosebumps as I was completely taken back and impressed with this approach to teaching and learning. She proceeded to talk about the importance of relationships in the larger Monteverde community, that people make time and prioritize relationships over work, and at work. I remember my first month at the Monteverde Institute, most of the staff ate lunch together. At first I was intimidated by the prospect of joining them so I ate lunch with my laptop in the library. But after a couple of months, I started to eat lunch with the staff. It has been these kind of shifts that have really altered my thinking about what matters, what is important, and how I want to spend my time.
Milo’s first day of school
Meeting his kindred spirit, Holden
Morning Peace Circle at Zac’s School
WALKABILITY: Initially we were planning to buy a car here but it was expensive and way too involved so we opted to rely on our feet and rental cars for times when we wanted to venture out of Monteverde into other parts of the country. While walking is great for our bodies and the environment, it is also great for building connections. With time being less constrained, I find myself actually stopping to talk to people, friends and other people walking on this planet. Another benefit has been a raised awareness and interest in birds and other critters. Walking from our neighborhood to the SuperMega (one of the larger supermarkets in Santa Elena, about 30 minutes), I find myself listening for birds; for mott motts, wrens, yellow warblers and the occasional bellbirds, toucanet, and toucan; looking down for leaf cutter ants, and noticing more than I ever would in a car.
I often say that my sabbatical was this chance to step off the rat wheel. I shared this with a mentor this fall and she told me, “you do not have to necessarily step off the wheel, you can decide what your ‘wheel’ looks like, and it might not even be a wheel, it could be something else altogether”
