Before a Slightly Longer Timeout

 Next week will already be May, and Golden Week is just around the corner.
A holiday break can be refreshing, but it can also interrupt the rhythm we have worked hard to build. As I prepare for this slightly longer timeout, I find myself thinking about time, balance, and strategy.

 

Next week is already May, and Golden Week begins.

Although May has thirty-one days on the calendar, once the holidays are taken into account, it often feels even shorter than February.

Still, a long holiday is not a bad thing. It comes during one of the most pleasant and stable seasons of the year, making it an excellent time to rest.

Since the New Year, many people have been busy with end-of-year duties, followed immediately by the intense start of a new fiscal year. In that sense, this short pause is welcome.

The difficulty is that breaks can loosen our discipline. They interrupt the steady routines we have built day by day.

In my case, that includes daily diagnostic work, preparation for study meetings, lecture planning, and many other ongoing responsibilities.

Time never stops, not even for a moment.

It moves forward with almost cruel speed.

As long as I am still in the game, I need to think carefully about strategy before time runs out.

Even so, there are moments when I want to say, “Time out!”

Golden Week, for me, is exactly that—a slightly longer timeout.

Halftime is something different. Summer vacation and the year-end holidays are true halftimes, when both body and mind need complete rest. But this slightly longer timeout is a chance to review plans and make small adjustments.

Of course, I cannot suddenly change direction. And since halftime is still some distance away, the real question is how to use this brief pause wisely.

First, I should bring the current situation back to even before calling timeout. After all, it is usually the team that is losing that asks for one.

Last week I was away on several business trips, and since the weekend my colleague has been overseas for training in pediatric and perinatal pathology. I have been managing everything alone.

I used to do that before he joined us. But once work became too much for one person, having two pathologists helped greatly. Returning to one again is not easy.

Without academic meetings or lectures, it might still be manageable. But those duties remain.

I sometimes think about making a to-do list, but most things are already organized in my head.

Deadlines exist, of course, but I already understand how time and priorities must be distributed.

So first, I should bring things back to even, and then wait for the whistle that signals timeout.

 

Before taking a break, it is best to restore balance and be ready for the game ahead. 

 

・・・

Vocabulary for Learners

• just around the corner = もうすぐそこに
• interrupt the rhythm = 調子・流れを中断する
• taken into account = 考慮に入れて
• steady routine = 安定した日課・習慣
• time runs out = 時間切れになる
• make small adjustments = 小さな調整をする
• bring back to even = 五分五分の状態に戻す
• manageable = 何とか対処できる
• distributed = 配分される
• signals timeout = タイムアウトを告げる