I am continually learning the value of time and I still struggle with properly balancing work & stress with self-care. I sent off my thesis to my committee last week, and have taken the last week off to get myself a little bit back together. Recently I came across a quote shared online: “doing your best does not mean working yourself to the point of a mental breakdown” (-Tiny Buddha), and I realize I should have taken better care of myself earlier. The last few months leading up to my thesis deadline was a nightmare. I was overwhelmed with the workload and expectations on a rushed timeline, and resorted to pulling back-to-back 14+ hr work days, while trying to deal with other personal struggles, and all together just falling apart constantly. When I read that quote above from someone’s shared post last week, it comforted me and reminded me that my well-being is more important than work. So, in my short break between my written thesis and defense presentation, I did some birding and a long overdue trip to the lake.

I’m glad I didn’t completely miss the summer, and though it’s not peak breeding time anymore, there is still a lot of wildlife activity. I was really starting to feel like I was losing a part of myself from the lack of birding trips over this past year. And for working with the birds, this was the first summer in 6 years where I was not doing field work, which felt really weird. I still enjoy watching the purple martins at their colonies. I don’t think I can ever tire seeing them waddle their way in and out of their cavities and hearing their chirps and clicks. I can’t wait until I have a backyard where I can put up my own bird houses :). My recent trip to Fort Whyte Alive was probably the first time I’ve seen ducklings of three species (mallard, wood duck, and hooded merganser) all in one pond! The little ducklings are so fast at running on the water surface to reach their momma, and the merganser ducklings are already diving at such a small size. The big swallow party seems to be at Oak Hammock Marsh, with the tree swallows, barn swallows, bank swallows, and of course the purple martins. It was mesmerizing to watch mixed swallow flocks forage in the air and on the gravel roads. I’m still amazed how often birds don’t crash into each other in the air. The black terns are also quite acrobatic (which also makes it hard to get a good photo) while they forage for fish, probably one of my favorite marsh birds. The productivity and diversity of wildlife in Manitoba are always amazing to me, and I look forward to spending time on more birding trips like I did before I started graduate school. I used to be an avid birder, and I want to keep that up.

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Mocha has been my number one buddy, and incredibly patient with me on my busy days. Even on my late working nights, she’ll come check up on me every now and then, as if to ask me to come to bed already. We’ve been regularly going to LaBarriere park to cool off in the river since it’s close by, and I’m happy to have finally taken her to the lake as I promised. It’s been almost a whole year since we’ve been to a beach/lake (too long!!). It’s a bit difficult finding a dog friendly lake location, but we lucked out at Delta Beach for a perfect morning and we’ll definitely be making more trips (and with Matt!) before the summer is over. With Mocha’s love for water, we have to be careful when we see any open body of water (even a quiet little fountain pond) because that’s the first place she’ll pull towards! Something about the lake though, she knows, and gets especially excited to go splashing around. It is one of our favorite places. To me, happy dog = happy life. I always feel so refreshed after a good adventure with Mocha.

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Next up I need to prepare for a virtual conference presentation and my thesis defense that are both taking place in just a couple weeks. With this and future work, I need to improve my balance with work/stress and self-care. Earlier I felt guilty on any short break when there was so much work to do, but time is so valuable that I should really “stop and smell the roses”. For me, that means I need to make more time to go birding and adventuring with Mocha. 🙂

-Evelien