Remember the Importance of Self-Care

Our NOVA community had a lot of music to share: 87 songs totaling more than six hours of stay-at-home listening! You’ll find the NOVAStayAtHomePlaylist on Spotify. If you missed your chance to add to it, just send me a few songs, and I’ll keep growing the playlist.

Some surprises: two songs from ELO and Alanis Morissette, only one from the Beatles. There was only one song I couldn’t find, so I subbed another Nat King Cole song. Enjoy!

For next week: send me your must-listen podcast. Just one. Here’s mine: the Rewatchables—not deep, not important, just movie-fanatic fun.

And, for this week, please take some time away from your screens and make some time for yourself.

Achieving work/life balance is hard when your office and home are the same and your desk and your children’s desks are the same surprisingly small kitchen table. Managing stress is a challenge when the news–24 hours a day–is “breaking,” and keeping things in perspective is difficult when a bottle of hand sanitizer has become more valuable than a barrel of crude oil. And, now, we’re moving into the rush of fall registration and spring finals.

I get it.

NOVA will be rolling out workshops on self-care and stress reduction in the days ahead, and I hope you’ll take advantage of them. I hope you’ll also make some time for a walk, a nap, a moment of mindfulness or even just a deep breath.

If you need help, if it gets to be too much, please reach out. Contact a colleague, your supervisor, human resources or me. Don’t let social distancing become social isolation. You matter to NOVA.

I’m never going to pretend that any of this is easy, but together, we will get through it. Please take care!