With the passing of time, so passes the stress. Where did it go, I wonder? Methinks it will return before the end of the month, which is the due date of one of my deadlines. As I said in the previous post, deadlines are important. Motivates a person.
I knew things were turning around when I started to think clearer, and think actual analytical thoughts about my project. Prior to this, I was thinking the plodding thoughts. I was caught up in the minutia and worried about filling the pages with facts. I broke from the stress of the work by putting off the analytical thoughts until more pages came. So, that has been helpful. Another thing that has helped is my class. I teach a women's history course and this term it deals primarily with women and religion. We begin with methodology and asking questions about why we need to consider religion and women together (Thank you Ann Braude!). This has brought my own thoughts into focus. The trick of course it to transfer the intellectual excitement of class to writing. (Same thing happens after I go to a conference. If I could only bottle that enthusiasm...)
So, I am thinking again about the whys of the project and not solely about the hows. Yes, we can easily figure out how things happened and chronicle that, but if we can add the why it did, then there will be something all together worthwhile. I also need to consider why this study is important. It is funny when sparks of good ideas come to me. I look back at a good passage and think, "where did that come from? Did I really write that?" Usually when I do not think too much about every, little word, then good things come.
Does this translate to the other corners of my life? Probably would if I stopped obsessing on the other stresses in my life.
I knew things were turning around when I started to think clearer, and think actual analytical thoughts about my project. Prior to this, I was thinking the plodding thoughts. I was caught up in the minutia and worried about filling the pages with facts. I broke from the stress of the work by putting off the analytical thoughts until more pages came. So, that has been helpful. Another thing that has helped is my class. I teach a women's history course and this term it deals primarily with women and religion. We begin with methodology and asking questions about why we need to consider religion and women together (Thank you Ann Braude!). This has brought my own thoughts into focus. The trick of course it to transfer the intellectual excitement of class to writing. (Same thing happens after I go to a conference. If I could only bottle that enthusiasm...)
So, I am thinking again about the whys of the project and not solely about the hows. Yes, we can easily figure out how things happened and chronicle that, but if we can add the why it did, then there will be something all together worthwhile. I also need to consider why this study is important. It is funny when sparks of good ideas come to me. I look back at a good passage and think, "where did that come from? Did I really write that?" Usually when I do not think too much about every, little word, then good things come.
Does this translate to the other corners of my life? Probably would if I stopped obsessing on the other stresses in my life.
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