Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 27oC, hot, sunny, and cloudy.
One of my faults, and there are many, is that on the eve of something, I begin to slow down and become prematurely lazy.
It is the eve of the bank holiday Easter Friday in Brazil. I think in England the bank holiday is on Monday, but in Brazil, it is on Friday. I have noticed for a long time now that on the eve of a bank holiday or an event, I tend to slow down or even shut down beforehand.
I start to switch off in the early afternoon of the eve; it is gradual until the early evening, when I have prematurely finished, not wanting to do anything more. If I have a class at either 6 or 7 pm, I pray for it to be cancelled by the pupil, or if not, I cancel it, which is neither correct nor professional.
It is not professional and certainly not very disciplined regarding being a teacher. Still, I think it can be very draining and stressful when we work with the public, especially in education. It is sometimes good to take a voluntary break or even a premature time off before the holiday.
Most pupils do not mind as their minds are also not on studying on a Thursday night, on the eve of a bank holiday. They are more into winding down or travelling for the rest of the week to have a long weekend out of Rio or just going out with friends and not worrying about oversleeping the next day because it is a bank holiday.
Just the fact of not having to get up early the next day is a luxury for some people, especially in Brazil.
Once, a very well-prepared pupil of mine shocked me a long time ago by saying, “In Brazil, most of the population works to survive, and only this!”
For some time now, I have understood what she said, and as Brazil seems to be getting worse rather than better, what she said in the past seems even more relevant today.
Although I usually feel lazy on the eve of a holiday, I managed to maintain my professionalism and discipline and worked until 6 p.m.
My last client, a leading lawyer in Sao Paulo and a bit of a workaholic, had scheduled an appointment with me at 6 p.m. However, he cancelled at the last minute, allowing me to relax and watch an old movie while drinking a glass of wine.
In bed by 9.00 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
