Having a socially demanding job. Agreeing to cover extra classes. Two. Back to back. Unfamiliar people in a place I haven’t taught at before. Finishing around my usual bedtime on the evening before my early Thursday morning Body Balance class. During the week of my low hormone phase meaning fatigue and cravings for chocolate, hugs, and cosy things are already high.
It’s a hard thing to judge in advance, when agreeing to the work, how much is this going to affect energy levels for my own classes. This time it ended up not as bad as I had feared as I was able to walk there instead of having to drive and the spring weather over the last few days has been really uplifting. Then I found out about a one off fundraising screening of a Ukrainian film that was happening the day after and although the temptation to just curl up at home with Netflix was strong I decided I was going to go.
Oxford is always absolutely glorious in the sunshine. The limestone university buildings glow with warmth. I caught the bus in and started reading the latest Shelterbox Book Club book, Malala’s ‘We Are Displaced’ which ended up being a more appropriate choice than I’d realised when I picked it up on my way out of the door. The film, Olga, was about a young Ukrainian gymnast who’s mother was an investigative journalist caught up in the tensions of the 2013-14 revolution so sent her daughter to Switzerland for safety. It took us through Olga having to learn how to integrate with a new group of friends while focusing on her gymnastics and missing home. [Spoiler alert] What’s stayed with me from it is that a few weeks ago this film had a happy ending, showing Olga a few years after the revolution, back in Kiev and enjoying life. Now that’s all been destroyed by Putin’s invasion.
Even though it meant another evening out later than usual, dinner with a book, then a good film in the fancy cinema with a nice glass of wine, definitely did me good and I felt brighter from it, enough to get through Friday. The fatigue has still caught up with me (partly hormones, yay), as I write this on Saturday evening my eyes feel tired, and I’m about to enjoy making and filling myself up with pizza then let myself fall asleep watching something I’ve seen before.
