I purposefully quit one of my biggest teaching jobs and moved to a new side of town into a much bigger place all at the same time. It was incredibly deliberate, and I did it for important reasons. Essentially, my brain was burned out. I don’t necessarily know how to completely stop my wheels from…
When I decide to do something, I do it. I assume it’s a symptom of my Type A personality, my need to feel in control, and/or my fear of having regrets, but it’s a drive that I’m grateful for. It’s the reason I started teaching, sang at open mic nights for years, and wrote two…
I have always avoided meditation (much like I did yoga, which I now love), but lately I find that everything I read or listen to inevitably mentions the importance of being mindful, being present, and of course, the benefits of meditation. It surprised me to hear this recurring theme in various audio books and educational…
I know it’s not very original to write a blog post about one’s goals during the first week of the new year, but I’m okay with that. I’ve always been a huge fan of setting resolutions just hours before the ball drops on December 31st, mostly because I tend to set goals that I can…
Every time I visit our family cabin in North Carolina, I feel the need to write about it. And every time I’m here, especially over the winter break, I forget just how much I’ve simply needed to unplug. As an online college instructor you’re essentially ‘on call,’ even on weekends, which is fine by me…
I never intended to put this post on Happy Professor (I wrote it some months ago), but the longer I teach, the more I hear about the private struggles of other instructors (related to office politics on the physical campus, being bullied by students in online courses, or reading heartbreaking student criticism at the end…
The past week has been an eye-opening journey for me and my students. For the first time ever, I incorporated short TED-style speeches into my course curriculum. The only real guidelines I gave my students were to follow the traditional style of TED speakers, and to simply “be awesome, have fun,” as Brene Brown had…
About a year ago, by some stroke of luck, I hit it off with two new part-time college instructors who I met on campus during the Spring 2015 semester. One was an author and speaker, and the other had just chosen a new career path after a stint in the corporate world. The funny thing…
During a group presentation my students gave the other morning, it occurred to me that life has so many simple pleasures to offer. Whether it’s watching my students’ hard work pay off, creating a class activity that I hope might motivate others, or appreciating the flexibility and satisfaction that my lifestyle provides, I have so…
Psychology has been a fascination of mine for as long as I can remember, and so has the idea happiness. So naturally, Flourish by the father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, has been on my list of books to read for quite a while. I’m not done listening to the borrowed audiobook, but so far…