Rabbit Hole, Wormhole, or Just a Place of Comfort

I have a pile of things I have been working on.  What makes this pile interesting is how I am working on it.  Usually I just tackle my tasks.   So that you can truly understand what I mean by tackle, google biggest football hits ever and enjoy the short video.  Hard hit tackles are so exciting, the man goes down and we are so excited and pumped up about it that we don’t recognize what the tackler might feel.  Yes, he is pumped too, but when that adrenaline wears off and years accumulate, well, google CTE and you will realize there are repercussions for both involved in that mean hit. 

I am not saying that my work is anywhere near that of a football player, but I can recognize that sometimes hitting it hard can wear a person down. 

My pile includes: final reports for our 2020 Mini-Tech grant and 2020 Summer Reading Program grant, a staff evaluation, the beginnings of a new technology plan and 2021 budget, staff procedure for collection development and my current inventory listings for our YA section.  I have rotated working on each one, not so much multitasking, but instead of a tackle, just a gentle nudge to each one, gradually wearing them down to completion.

It has been so soothing and satisfying.  Instead of making myself miserable powering through it, I have enjoyed approaching a task in a new way.  Is this what sane people feel like?  Don’t get excited, sanity is not in my future. 

Yesterday, as I was working on the report for the tech grant, I realized I had not even shared with you that we have received it.  Yep, nowhere near sane.   We received over $3000 to help purchase 4 new desktop computers for the library.  Grants are so vital for library development; some of our first public computers were funded by the Gates Foundation.  In the past 4 years we have added 8 laptops, 9 desktops, and updated and added software.  Over $18,000 of improvement, thanks to grants supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act and administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

After I worked on the grant, I decided to work on staff procedure for collection development.  This is the “treat” in my pile, I enjoy creating things and I really dig formulating plans that create justification to what we do.  Again, not sane, I apparently need to justify all that I do, or maybe I have some illness that enjoys going down rabbit holes.  I started the document by methodically listing all the steps involved in ordering library material, from accounts and passwords, to reports that justify the division of the budget for various parts of the collection.  This is when I dived into the rabbit hole, wormhole, whatever you want to call it; I realized last night that I call it a place of comfort. 

When I lost myself in the statistics and how they should determine planning our budget I imagined I was experiencing the same feeling coffee drinkers feel with that first sip, but probably more like the addict when the heroin hits the bloodstream.  Seriously, I have a problem.  I recognize that more often than not, time is wasted in the rabbit hole, but it felt so good.  I felt like Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man, I just imagined numbers floating all around me and I was grabbing them and putting them together like Will in Good Will Hunting.  I hope all my past math teachers are reading this.  I can just see Mrs. Todd shaking her head no and Mr. Wood laughing out loud.  I have never been fond of math, but I guess there is a mental condition I suffer from that has not been discovered yet, or maybe it has, please let me know. 

So no CTE for me, I am still getting things accomplished, I am totally aware I am not Raymond or Will and at this point I still recognize when I am in the rabbit hole.  I promise to come back, unless I find the other side like the Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.  Forget about googling the before mentioned things and read the Starless Sea, join me as we enjoy an adventure in wonderland. 

Upcoming Events: 9/1 Book Club at 6:30pm, 9/2 Story Time at 10am, Starting 9/2 you can call to Book a Bubble with Brittany