Einstein is quoted as saying, “It is not that I’m smart, it is that I stay with the questions much longer.” I hadn’t been able to directly apply that to my life until recently. After a long weekend and a particularly hard day in classes I realized that part of what is making me so frustrated these days is being around people who simply don’t care.
I have a history of not being around the right people. You can track my lifelong productivity by that scale. The better quality of folk I associate with, the happier and more full my life is. This is not to say I’m not around good people, but the majority of my day is spent around people who aren’t making my life better. Of course, defining better or good is a slippery slope in of itself. That is why I am falling back to the Einsteinian view on this particular philosophy. I’m not staying with the questions long enough. Moreover, I’m not staying with the people who are staying with the questions and that has become more and more apparent.
I can count the amount of time I spend with friends in seconds per week. I spend more time with students who don’t remotely care about their education than I do with friends and than I do with students who care about their education. Such a thing wears on you and leads to serious burnout. Worse, it leads to brain rot, mental drain, and an inability to be a creative force and stay fresh and innovative.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I find myself in a room full of excited writers. I love the experience and it renews me every time. Still, it is not enough. I need more of that interaction in my life and not just as a teacher. I need thinkers and doers and people who are pushing the envelope in one way or another. That is what NYC was to me and that is likely why the sleepy suburbs are making me chafe.