For many people, semesters and trimesters and quarters are winding down. Some are deep into grading, others crafting finals, a few still teaching this week. It has been a rollercoaster of a year, with global suffering threaded through our wrangling with local and national challenges. There is more ahead. Change will come with the new year, and while I am committed to not letting anyone steal my joy ahead of time, I’m aware of everything that hangs in tenuous balance right now.

Which is why everyone deserves a moment to reflect on the fact that you did a good job.  Despite crumbling infrastructures, the compounding effects of economic hardship and ill health, the challenges of sociability after long periods of isolation for all of us, the shifting commitments of colleges and universities to the most vulnerable among us, the ravages of contingency, the creativity demanded of us when we’re tapped out . . . we persevered.

And you might be thinking “but I wasn’t at my best.” But the truth is, none of us are perfect, and none of us can be “best” all the time. Sometimes we have 30% in the tank, and if we give that 30% we are well and truly doing the best we can at that moment. It’s always worthwhile to look back and consider what tweaks to our teaching might help us do better the next time around, but it’s also worthwhile to remember all the things we did <i>right</i>. We are not heroes who can save everyone (even if saving people were our job; even if saving people were the right thing to do instead of facilitating the circumstances under which people can save themselves).

Breathe. Sway in your seat. Stimulate that wonderful vagus nerve. And extend to yourself the most capacious and understanding kindness.

Winter breaks are often periods when we catch up on a hundred pieces of work that we didn’t get to during the semester, or plan for the next one hurtling toward us. But when and wherever you can take some time to fully stop – to put an away message on your email and ignore it for a few days; to see people you love; to read a book for pleasure, or concentrate on a craft, or play that pick-up game you’ve been wanting to play, or Zoom with friends, or a hundred other things that fill you up.  Sleep more. Drink some water. Fill the rooms you’re in with the scents that bring your shoulders down from around your ears.

You did a good job. You’re doing a good job. Rest, friends. Rest.