Perception vs. Reality

Last weekend, I presented a paper at a Humanities Conference in Richmond. The presentation went very well, but between preparing classes, writing the paper, and worrying about job security--by the time Saturday rolled around, I was mentally and emotionally kaput.

At the conference, Tim Reid talked about the power of perception vs. reality. We are more affected by what we perceive happened than by what actually happened. He showed pictures of African American congressmen immediately following the Civil War, followed by a clip from "Birth of A Nation". Following the production of that film--America's perception of Black History was changed forever. Attitudes towards African Americans changed overnight by the false perceptions created by this film.

Returning to the first paragraph--At the beginning of the week I was overwhelmed with stress and worry. By Saturday, the stress was gone, but I finally let myself feel the worry. I compartmentalize stress in order to get through it. But my word, the aftermath is just blech.

I was at Lesley's when the stress just hit me. I had a great day with Lesley and Robert, planting flowers and digging in the dirt. It was so nice to not think about work.

As for work, I've been offered a multitude of courses to teach at both campuses. Woodbridge campus has offered an ideal schedule of 5 classes crammed into Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This leaves me with 4 day weekends! I'm so happy! And I would be teaching classes that I've taught before, so unlike this lovely quarter where I'm teaching 3 new classes--I already have everything ready for next quarter. I'm kind of happy. Really happy.

I just have to get through the next 6 weeks. I need to change my perception. I perceive that I am going to have a wonderful time during the next 6 weeks. I perceive it. Perception. yep. I also perceive that I got plenty of sleep last night.