These words from Thomas Merton might apply to some of our lives as language teachers:
“To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone with everything is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his work for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of his own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”
Thomas Merton, The Violence of Modern Life
Is it possible the zeitgeist is changing? Are we understanding the value of boredom once again? Can we make that shift and heal ourselves?