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<\/p>\nMaybe some of you will recognize the following scenario. I was ill a few days ago with a bad cold and forced to take a few days off from the lab. As I lay in bed, too drained to do anything but doze, I found myself strangely elated. How, I wondered, could such a miserable condition be in any way cheering? And no, since you ask, it wasn’t the antihistamines. It was the realization that I was in fact too ill to do anything. Even if I did feel physically up to sitting at my computer, I did not have the mental wherewithal to exert myself intellectually. In short, I was being forced to relax and do nothing.<\/p>\n
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\nNon-negotiable oblivion<\/strong><\/p>\n \nHad I really reached the state where being ill was only thing that could excuse me from my (entirely self-imposed) obligations and ambitions?<\/p>\n \nNow I know I’ve made quite a fuss<\/a> about how it’s personally important for me not to spend too much time in the lab. But the truth is that I work very hard outside of the lab on personal projects. In addition to a variety of freelance activities, including writing, editing and consulting, I am trying to get several novels published. And of course, I edit LabLit<\/a>, where we try to publish at least two new pieces a week \u2013 a goal that requires a lot of attending events, commissioning and chasing as well as editing and production.<\/p>\n \nThis looming docket of duties, which are more of less omnipresent, makes it very difficult to relax. Whenever I am not working on something, I am fretting because I feel I ought to be. This past Sunday was case in point. It was a glorious autumn day: bright sunlight, spectacular clouds, a fresh wind, the last of the summer roses shedding petals onto the grass, golden leaves raining down in the woods around my house. When I rose at half eight and put on the coffee, I had the entire Sunday ahead of me. Unusually for me, my extracurricular workload was more or less under control and ticking over \u2013 I could easily have kicked back.<\/p>\n \nBut it’s not so easy. A beautiful weekend day is not quite as good an excuse as a rhinovirus, is it? So out came the laptop, the only thing that can smooth away the guilt.<\/p>\n \nI rather think some reprogramming might be in order. Can anyone think of a non-infectious way to get me into that chaise longue next weekend?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe some of you will recognize the following scenario. I was ill a few days ago with a bad cold and forced to take a few days off from the lab. As I lay in bed, too drained to do … Continue reading