Self-Compassionate Professor

I announce my FREE workshop series, "Digest, Rest, and Envision," which will be offered May 23, May 24, and May 25 in one-hour sessions. Tuesday's workshop will help you to process emotions left over from the academic year. Wednesday's workshop will help you to rest and trust the process of rest. Thursday's workshop will help you to envision a new way of doing your career, ba...

Dr. Kimine Mayuzumi discusses her graduate school journey as an advocate for change in academia, her research and blog writing about the need for academics to slow down and be lazy, and how academics may apply elements of the Japanese Tea Ceremony to their work so they can come to enjoy their work more. Find the blog post she refers to here:   https://lazyslowdown.com/where-are-our-feelings-of-gui...

I describe the ways academic institutions socialize us into deficit thinking where we often come to believe we are not enough. And while having a deficit thought or story is not a problem in and of itself, believing such stories and allowing them to drive our careers is a big problem. I talk about how to disrupt this type of thinking as well as how to regulate your nervous system when you find you...

In this interview conducted by Dr. Sanne Frandsen in her Facebook group, Next Level Career Community for Women in Academia , Sanne interviews Dr. Patrice Buzzanell. Patrice explains what led her to academia, how her motherhood journey began in graduate school, her struggles, and the great success she has enjoyed overall in her academic career while also raising six children. Patrice also discusses...

Continuing with our theme of connections, I discuss how all roads lead back to Dr. Sanne Frandsen! In this episode, I introduce Sanne as next week's guest host and tell several fun stories of connection and coincidence. I also re-release my interview with Sanne where she describes the power of narrative, explaining how many of our career problems manifest from the stories we tell ourselves. Sh...

In the spirit of connecting to those beyond our immediate circles, I re-release my interview with Dr. Alex Ketchum, author of Engage in Public Scholarship: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication. Alex explains the value of engaging in public scholarship--a hopeful message for individual scholars, the academy generally, as well as society at large. She also describes her own experienc...

Originally airing on the Papa PhD Podcast with David Mendes, this episode represents our "connections" theme for the month of March 2023.  "...an incredibly insightful conversation about the impostor phenomenon in academia and beyond with Marc Reid, PhD, author of You Are Not a Fraud – A Scientist’s Guide to the Imposter Phenomenon. Imposter feelings are ubiquitous in graduate school and throughou...

Dr. David Mendes, creator and host of the Papa PhD Podcast, explains when and why he began the podcast, the waves of uncertainty he has undergone throughout his career, how he has transformed, and how meaningful conversations have fueled his transformation. Also, catch my interview with David on the Papa PhD podcast on March 2, 2023! Find David on Twitter and Instagram at @papaphdpodcast, on Linke...

Dr. James Hedges, Dean of the Division of Online and Continuing Education at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, discusses his career journey from faculty to administration. He also offers lessons learned: chaos can create opportunities, negotiation and confidence is key, discussing workplace issues with colleagues is important and therapeutic, and opening to and accepting ambiguity and failure...

Corona Pritchard discusses how the burnout she experienced in her work was largely due to organizational dysfunction, her decision to make a career pivot, and the challenges around identity she encountered when she arrived in her new position. She also discusses what a healthy organization looks like as well as how to implement wellness practices into your life. Corona too asks us to consider this...

Dr. Jen Harrison discusses the challenges of working as a full-time adjunct and how the pandemic forced her to pause and reassess the direction of her career. As she explains, she eventually realized that building a business as a dissertation coach enabled her to be the supportive teacher she always wanted to be. Jen also lists five practices professors may use with their grad students to transfor...

I argue that spiritual practice allows you to relax into the task of paving a self-compassionate career path. Drawing on Brené Brown's definition of spirituality, I offer examples of spiritual practice and explain how such a practice may support a person in career crisis. 

In this episode, I discuss the importance of regulating your nervous system in the service of cultivating a relationship to yourself. Drawing on the message in Episode 119 about the power of self checkins, how to do them, and the benefits, I add an additional layer to the checkin process: regulating your nervous system. As we experience more calm, we better connect to ourselves, and from that plac...

When you soothe your nervous system, you begin to hear your inner wisdom guiding you in your daily life. And these tiny callings should be taken seriously because cumulatively, they lead to a bigger vision based in self-compassion. Such work requires a practice of pausing, self-study, regulating your nervous system, and focused support from others. All of these pieces are provided in the Sabbatica...

I discuss Parker Palmer's notions of career discernment and how his philosophy aligns with my group coaching program, The Sabbatical Program. I also describe how the program is intended for those who want to do the deep work of connecting deeply to self and others as well as my intention to cater to those who are willing to turn into a slower pace and a pause. Registration for Sabbatical begins Ja...

In an effort to contextualize last episode's trauma discussion, I re-release my interview with Dr. Sara Taylor who explains that academia was a perfect holding container for her trauma. Since trauma affects every aspect of our lives, including our career decisions, Sara makes a convincing case for all of us to do the deep inner work required to release our trauma. She offers examples, questions, a...

Stephanie Lagana and I intentionally create space for "whatever conversation needs to happen." She describes what healing looks like on individual and collective levels and what we can do to begin and continue the healing process. Find Stephanie Lagana on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-lagana/ or on her website at https://www.thedianacollective.co/. (Register for "self-compassion fo...

Mona Penn-Jousset describes the challenges of working at a Dutch art academy, where issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion were either largely ignored or perceived with contempt. Feeling alone in her mission to create safe educational spaces for black, brown, and LGBTQ students while also navigating intense challenges in her personal life, Mona found herself taking the "next best step" on a mo...

Laura Hoyer discusses her career pivot into instructional design, the challenges she encountered, and how she came to more deeply understand (and act in accordance with) her own values. Laura also explains how trusting your gut is an issue of wellness. After the lessons she learned on her own long and difficult journey, she now helps other teachers to make career pivots. Find Laura on LinkedIn at...

In this re-release of one of the most popular interviews on the podcast to date, Dr. Jenn Berg explains how her work as a tenured math professor came to take over her life. After developing a meditation practice however, she started noticing patterns that indicated she had an unhealthy relationship to work. As she watched herself in a new way, she realized it was time to walk away and she made the...

Dr. Leslie Wang helps listeners to re-conceptualize their relationship to academia so they may make intentional decisions about the future of the relationship (look for her upcoming book on this topic!), shares her own "break-up" story, as well as describes how the relationship she once had to her work negatively impacted her physical health. Find Leslie at https://yourwordsunleashed.com/. (And re...

Dr. Noah St. John discusses "the shower that changed everything"--a moment of realization that would not only transform his own life, but many others. He soon implemented the idea and eventually named it "afformations." Immediately after using afformations on himself, he went from being stuck in the process of writing a book to completing the writing of another book within two weeks. Noah also sha...

Dr. Ginger Lockhart describes how academia fed her addiction for hyper-achievement. Later, when she admitted to herself that she had never been passionate about the work, she still struggled to admit it to mentors and colleagues. In the end, Ginger realized staying in her academic career was not only a disservice to herself, but a disservice to her field and colleagues. Ginger now gives "the right...

Dr. Maureen Meyers tells about the toll academic mobbing took on her mind, body, and spirit, the difficult decision to leave her tenured position, and the harsh circumstances within which she found herself leaving. Maureen also explains her healing process and the freedom and gratitude she now experiences in her non-academic job. Connect with Maureen on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/maure...

I offer a strategy to navigate midterm stress: 1) Climbing back into your body, 2) Feeling and listening to your emotions, 3) Finding trust that this process is time well spent, and 4) Taking Martha Beck's "3Bs" strategy (bag it, barter it, better it) to your to-do list. You may find the written version of this guide as well as my upcoming career wellness workshops here : https://danielledelamare....