I woke up hours late today and totally out of it. I’m not sick sick, but something was weighing on me heavily enough to convince myself: time for a mental health day. As soon as I made that decision, I felt lighter!

I don’t have plans for today, apart from reading, walking Cheyenne, and maybe swimming at the rec center. Or maybe I’ll scrap all of that and nap. Or watch pointless, stupid TV shows. The world is my oyster on this mental health day.

Of course, I did some things that could/should be called “work.” I am finally done with my teaching gig for the summer, and am on the fence about another rodeo. We’ll see. I submitted final grades into the archane, convoluted grading system, and I didn’t hurt myself (or anyone else) in the process. I miss the students. I don’t miss the work. And as nerdy as this sounds, I’m so glad to be done teaching because I can use that time to focus on learning. There’s so much I still want to learn!

One “perk” that I still enjoy through having an institutional login is LinkedIn Learning. I was researching customer success courses recently, and remembered how much I love Jeff Toister. Okay, that sounds weird. But he’s the dude who really got me interested in instructional design, or at least helped me do something with my interest. His course on adult learning is still one I recommend, and earlier today, I brushed up (meaning: browsed through a few videos and downloaded the exercise files) on the needs analysis course. That’s still the hardest part of all of this for me, and I wrote (and deleted) a lengthy paragraph about it because I don’t want to belabor it here. It’s a mental health day, after all.

The other thing I did in LinkedIn Learning was to brush up on Garrick Chow’s Garageband course. I was thinking back to some “audio lectures” that I made for my class, and I wasn’t happy with my editing/sound effects. Spending an hour to tinker was oddly fun and I’m forcing myself to stop to share the little “practice file” I made. I still want to create a podcast with my ID friends — later, when we all feel less of that “weight of the world on our shoulders” (because I know it’s not just me who’s feeling this way). So whenever “later” comes around, I hope to have built up tiny habits and polish my audio skills so we can take over the world with our amazing, ridiculously crafty and creative, podcast. Yes, I am overhyping the thing before it exists. That’s marketing! 🌟