Lab cleaning is an annually recurring event in many academic departments which typically evokes mixed feelings when it is announced but leaves a univocal feeling of satisfaction when it is completed. Such cleaning days are perfect for tidying up the department, restructuring workspaces, finding back lost items, finding potentially useful items from which you did not know that these were available, and also for having a great deal of fun with colleagues, which can definitely be enhanced if your supervisor brings some treats or snacks (thanks boss). Personally, I love cleaning the lab, so I was not hesitant to propose an intermediate cleaning day last week, which my colleagues and supervisor, fortunately, agreed upon.
I am so glad with all the work carried out last week, and the end result is likely better than anyone of us could have imagined. The commitment of my colleagues does, however, leave me with a feeling of guilt, because my suggestion to clean the lab had arisen from a personal desire for more structure rather than from a pressing need for a cleaner workspace (although one can reason that ‘too much’ does not exist when it comes to cleaning a research lab). I needed more structure in my life and work to take back some of the creativity I have lost in the past period, and tidying up the two places where I spend most of my time these days would be a good starting point for that.
Many things have changed in the past months, such as that I cannot travel back to my partner and family in the Netherlands, which prevents me from being there for those close family members for whom health conditions have taken a turn in the wrong direction recently. And in response to my current travel restrictions, I decided to pick up the pace on the large project I started last Summer, which involves the analysis of hundreds of clinical samples. This project will easily require a couple of months of measuring time, so I am trying to use my time efficiently to get the job done as soon as possible. Consequently, I do not mind working in the evenings and weekends or stopping by the lab after midnight to do some minor things. I also do not mind logging in onto instrument computers from remote locations, for example just before going to bed or right after waking up, to check the status of my analyses, as such surveillance strategy allows me to take timely actions if needed. As a result, however, I wake up and go to bed with my work, which does not need to be a problem, but this does require some adaptations in life to stay fresh and sharp as well as to be able to fall asleep at night.
What does not work for me is how I did it in the last month. For weeks, I filled my days with work and my evenings with sports, some more work, watching documentaries, watching online seminars, and listening to podcasts (mostly in bed, to help me fall asleep). My brains were constantly absorbing information via my eyes and ears and did not have any time for thorough thinking. You could say that thorough thinking may very well be combined with sports, yet that is not how it works for me, especially not in the Autumn when a good focus on the road is essential to prevent me from kissing the asphalt. So, things needed to change, and mental clarity needed to be restored in order for me to flourish again.
At last, different people have different needs with regard to functioning efficiently, and some people actually need a messy desk to thrive in their workplace. I need structure and tidiness around me, which could readily be realized by cleaning my room and our department last week. In addition, I need to find a good balance between absorbing information and reflecting on it. I thus plan to cut back on reading, watching and listening, and I will up the frequency of taking evening walks or simply sitting on my couch and staring at a pink mouth mask which is hanging on the window handle. And most importantly, I will not be too self-critical when I deviate from my path of good intentions, which I will do inevitably and which I also need to do in order to improve my mental flexibility, as is important in my personal life and career.
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