Faith in Humanity
October 13, 2025 – HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Finally… I am listening to my body. I am always bringing my laptop downstairs with the hopes and intentions of doing work while sitting in my LazyBoy reclining chair and listening to Dr. G. Medical Examiner on YouTube via my TV. Over and over again I engage in this behaviour thinking that the next day will be a new day and I’ll jump into my work. Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results (citation affirmed by Google). I even knew that going to my office upstairs would be the most ideal and only way to get work done, unless I wanted to go to work and sit at my desk there. Anyway, I am HERE, sitting at my desk, upstairs, and blogging, which is a warm-up to doing work. Yay!! I’m here and working!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!!
Can you believe that it’s mid-October? I cannot. I have no idea where time is going to, but I am grateful to be here with my health, my cat, my kid, my work, and my place where I live. I have a lot to be grateful for and I am. I made turkey dinner last night. It took me about 6-hours to cook, 20-minutes to eat, and a couple of hours to clean up. Wowza. Preparing the dinner for me and my kid took most of my day and there was no way I was getting to any work last night. I also underestimated the time it would take for the turkey to cook and we ate at about 8:30pm last night. It was a late dinner with lots of snacks in between. My kid made note to me that it was a long time since I made turkey dinner. I could not remember when I made turkey dinner last. She said it was likely when I live in my other house. DAMN. That is at least 8-years ago. I’m guessing, but that has been quite some time. Admittedly, I am not looking forward to the next time. I think I’ll do what my twin brother does, especially when I live alone one day. I’ll get turkey dinner from WhiteSpot. Keep it simple. That was a lot of work for 20 minutes of eating.
I also spent the weekend resting. I had a tonne to do, of course, and I am grateful to have this work, but I needed to take a time out. I was not burning out, but I have been spending almost 2 years on focusing on myself and self-care. I am really trying to disengage from the hustle-culture and participate in work that I need to do, want to do, and rest when I need to. My teaching days of Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays heighten my workload (even though that is my workload). I am also engaged in a few research projects and projects for my department that also takes some of my time. I always appreciate Saturdays as “be a person day” where I can spend that day any way I want, guilt free. It could entail work, or not. All is good. Last week, I hosted a guest speaker in my teacher education class to help facilitate the blanket exercise. It’s a super powerful exercise depicting Canadian history from an Indigenous perspective.
In preparation for this class, I brought the blankets from home. I brought one garbage bag the night before prior to my night class, and a few other bags the next morning. I was so shocked how many people stopped to ask if I needed help. One offered me a ride to the front door. I declined. One person offered to carry a bag the next morning (I was carrying a few), and I accepted. Another person offered to carry a bag back to my car. I refused the help. And, the students in the class helped to set up the room and then folded the blankets after class ended while moving the tables and chairs in places in preparation for the next class. Overall, I was so touched by the gestures. No prompting. No soliciting. People just offered. Strangers to me (with exception to my students). I thought it aligned perfectly to the outcomes of the blanket exercise… meaning, people are kind, compassionate, and generous. My faith in humanity restored, especially after a very emotional and disturbing exercise about Canadian history. Thank you for your kindness.