27 November: The Value of the Vent

I worked over the weekend. Yeah, it was thanksgiving and all but to not fall so far behind in my grading, I jumped online on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The anger dude from Pixar\’s Inside Out? Yep. I did that look several times.

I am grateful for my colleagues, three in particular, to whom I can vent (via email or video chat). I did so in a couple of emails as I reviewed documents that were so terrible, I couldn\’t breathe.

It made me so grateful to have those colleagues because without them, a couple of things might have happened:

1. I might have lost my mind in the way I responded to the person who submitted the work. There is little worse than providing feedback and reviews in which all you do is complain. Eventually, it comes across as though you are criticizing the person, not giving constructive criticism of what they wrote.
2. I might have hurt myself, meaning I could have burst a blood vessel because I was trying so hard not to flip out.

Deep breaths, a well-edited email to a colleague who understands, and a video chat to laugh it all off later — that\’s how you value the vent.