ecosystem theory: how to reframe the "i do this or i do that" binary
“yeah sure i would love to take weekends off but i have way too much work for that to be feasible”
“of course i would love to have time to exercise but lol have you seen my to do list?”
“reading in my field not for a specific project, just to be aware? HA! not this term buddy!!!”
the list of things we SHOULD be doing is enormous - be a great colleague and teacher and scholar and writer and researcher and committee member and have time for side gigs and volunteer for your resume and……that’s just the tip of the iceberg in professional academic settings. you might also be in possession of a human body that has needs, or maybe you have relationships you’d like to maintain, or an interest outside of work that you would like to pursue! there truly isn’t enough time in the day to even approach optimization in all categories - and that’s without worldwide pandemic events that disrupt everyone for years on end.
but one of the big barriers i find - as both a human and a coach who works with humans - is the discrete nature of choice. in any given hour of the day, i can only do one thing at a time (i mean i could multitask but i fall down enough just walking, i definitely shouldn’t try to write emails and walk at the same time.) so at some level, i have to either choose to spend that hour sleeping, or eating, or moving my body, or answering emails. i can combine and optimize and shoot for an order that makes sense, but if you can’t do everything, you do have to choose some things.
and if your brain is really focused on the urgent, important work of your professional life (and wow does our society like to really redirect our focus there if it ever drifts!!), it can be hard NOT to frame things as “i’m either caught up at work, OR my human stuff is being handled.” so often, this leads us to focus on either fitting more into every day (i’ll get up earlier or work one weekend day a week!) or trying to work faster so that we can fit in more - and those efforts make sense logically but they also create ripe conditions for exhaustion and burnout.
what does all this have to do with ecosystems, katy?? well, in a former life, i wrote a lot about how animals are portrayed in media, and lots of my work actually focused on how media is used to drive conservation efforts. i’m sure you’ve heard calls to save the pandas, or protect polar bears from losing their habitat, or drawing your attention to the destruction of coral reefs. now, in no way am i suggesting that we shouldn’t save pandas (look at them in the snow!) or that polar bears haven’t been forced into smaller and smaller ranges to their detriment, or that coral reefs aren’t some of the most stunning examples of biodiversity in the world and we shouldn’t save them!! my argument here is that by focusing on one species, rather than the whole ecosystem, we can make short term decisions that have long term consequences, however unintended.
i’m not the first person to talk about this, obviously - there are discussion about umbrella species, how to use celebrity species to raise money, and how to spend that money in a way that supports ecosystem rehabilitation, and how to focus attention on large scale, complex issues like climate change when people want easy, sexy wins like reducing acid rain. but, in this context - choosing what to spend our precious time on during the day, week, month, or year - i think that these discussions actually have a lot to tell us about how we can view the interactions between our work output and our life.
for example, in my life, i have to work on fitting exercise and movement into my day. i am not one of those people blessed with the ability to get up in the morning and run, or do much else but play wordle in bed until i’m ready to face the day, so i have to squeeze it in somewhere else. in the thick of the day, when my inbox is full and people need things, it’s really hard to say “yes, let’s drop everything and do a workout video” because it definitely isn’t as urgent, and can often feel less important. in the race between “job” and “move body”, body doesn’t always win in the head to head competition.
but it’s not a head to head competition, at least not most of the time. if i take 20 minutes to go for a walk, i often get some direct benefits (visit from the neighborhood cats, some serotonin, a chance to listen to a good podcast) and then some less direct ones (increased focus after i come back, a sense of pride that i made time even though it was hard, better sleep). moving my body is good for the ecosystem of my life, even if in the moment it isn’t the best choice for my writing when viewed in isolation.
when i pay attention to my ecosystem, rather than just optimizing conditions for one task or group of tasks, i do tend to spend my time differently. i have to work a little harder up front on scheduling, weather a few temper tantrums about not wanting to go do hard things like folding laundry, and sometimes, it does mean that people are waiting for me, or that i don’t respond immediately to emails, or that i’m less reachable at certain times of the day and week. but just like reducing stormwater runoff doesn’t directly help beavers return to my local nature preserve, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t play a part, or isn’t worth doing. together with stream conservation, community education, ecostewards that monitor stream health, municipal policies, and urban planning, my rain barrel does make a difference (and provides me with a free way to water my gardens all summer long, too).
the health of your personal ecosystem matters - metaphorically and also literally. what would change about how you schedule and prioritize and plan if you were thinking about your ecosystem rather than your tasks? and like ecosystem conversation, it might take some time for your changes to have benefits that you can track. and it doesn’t mean that there are big problems and challenges and hurdles that your individual choices alone won’t really move the needle on! sometimes, we just need a reframe to help ourselves seem some wiggle room where there wasn’t any before. your ecosystem matters, and it’s worth experimenting to help protect and strengthen it.
Self care gives you choices.
I like to be able to choose things. For instance, I like to be able to choose between chicken nuggets or a salad for lunch (or if you're in Pittsburgh, you put nuggets and fries and shredded cheese and ranch on that salad, but that's a whole separate issue!) I like to be able to decide what I want to work on. I like to decide what activities I do in my free time. I like to be able to decide what goals best fit my vision for the future.
I like to think about self care as practices that help me have choices. Because when I am run down, or burnt out, or just trying to survive, I have much fewer options. For example:
I pass out on the couch when I didn't mean to
I take 2 hour naps randomly in the middle of the day when I don't have time to
Everything is due tomorrow so I have no choice about what I work on
I don't have the option to do activities that recharge me because I have so much work that is due now, or soon
I have less options for my food because I don't have time to prep my own meals, or my choices are limited
When I thought about self care as bubble baths and shopping trips and things that I did because I deserved them after a period of work, I swung wildly from overindulgence to austerity. I could never get the balance right if my self care was only reactive; if I had to earn self care by working, then I either held out until I reached a stopping point, or I cared for myself "early" and felt guilty about it.
But I am now trying to think of my self care as something that is proactive: I take care of myself in the present so that in the future, I have choices.
I prioritize sleep, trying to get at least 7 hours a night, so that my chronic illness doesn't have another reason to flare (it does that all on it's own!) I also do this to manage my fatigue during the day, so when I sit down to work, my brain cooperates.
I try to work in small, sustainable ways so that no one day of work leaves me so exhausted that I have to recover for multiple days afterwards.
I work really hard to have an awareness of who needs what from me when, so that deadlines don't sneak up on me and I can best use the limited resources of time and energy in a conscious way.
I try to meal prep so that I have choices in the fridge that make my body feel good, and that I save money by avoiding last minute hangry takeout ordering.
I schedule time with friends and family members so that even if my work isn't "done" I can still be with people who care about me, and who recharge me. Bonus points on this one because if you make the plans, you can have more influence on the time!
It can be hard to break long standing habits of overwork, especially when so much of academic culture is not only overworking yourself, but performing that misery as a sign of your dedication. It was easier for me to "take time" to take care of myself if I viewed it as a future investment. By taking care of myself now, I give myself choices later. And choices help me feel like this is a life that I am living on purpose, not just one that I'm reacting to, crisis by crisis.