Self-Compassionate Professor

Dr. LuElla D’Amico describes how her own suffering during the tenure process opened up a whole new joyful adventure where she now shows up more fully for her family, her faith, her teaching, her university, her scholarship, her communities, and her own well-being. She offers inspiration, encouragement, and advice for academics who also aspire to be more whole. 

Dr. Victoria Wright shares her own story about leaving academia as a full professor. She now finds herself running the Ph.D. Life Coach Podcast and membership experience, helping PhD students and academics overcome overwhelm and procrastination. This work, as she explains, represents the culmination of having weaved together her research, skills she developed working with Ph.D. students, and the personal calling she answered during the pandemic. Find her podcast, The PhD Life Coach, anywhere you get podcasts as well as on her website at https://www.thephdlifecoach.com/.

This episode is not an interview, but a chat about the experiences of the Highly Sensitive Person, a designation perhaps overrepresented in academia. Drs. Geneviève Taylor and Danielle De La Mare discuss what it looks and feels like to process everything deeply, get overstimulated easily, feel emotions intensely, and notice the subtler parts of life. We also explore both the gifts and drawbacks of having a sensitive nervous system and ways we practice self-acceptance and self-compassion.

Our pausing practice is perhaps the most important part of creating more career wellness in our work, yet we don't have a social structure that supports pausing. In this episode, I discuss ways you might begin to think about pausing, how to structure an ongoing pausing practice, and the benefits of pausing for career wellness. During this seasonal transition, I hope you pause, detox, and declutter. Happy Equinox!

Kelly Miller tells the story about how her identity was deeply entangled with her work, the toxic work environment she found herself in, the suffering that ensued when she left the work, and the breakthrough that happened next. Kelly explains that her faith as well as her work with both the Enneagram and Primal Questions built a foundation for her to leap into the next chapter of her career. While she continues to heal, Kelly now actively leans into new places, people, and ideas that serve her new way of being in the world. Find Kelly Miller at https://www.kellymiller.co/ as well as @socialkellymiller on Instagram and TikTok and Kelly Miller on LinkedIn.

Paul Weigel talks about what it means to be authentic, true, and connected in both work and personal life. We explore what it looks like to make space for ourselves as well as others in the classroom and in other spaces. We also talk about the courage it takes to show up authentically, be present to deeper meaning in each moment, and hold work/life gently. Find Paul’s book, Iron Dad here.

Dr. Mary Mirvis discusses how her unconventional academic career is taking shape and her faith in the journey. First, we talk about writing: the huge role writing has played in her life since childhood, how she used writing to heal from burnout, and how journal-type writing has strengthened the relationship she has to her research. Second, we talk about the purposeful career: finding joy, openness, and freedom in the everyday as well as leaning into your career desires, even when they’re not culturally sanctioned. Find Mary at https://mary.mirv.is/. 

Dr. Shiri Noy explains how creating systems to manage research is essential to individual researcher well-being as well as a necessary practice for maintaining the health and integrity of academic research more broadly. In short, Shiri encourages researchers to think and talk more about project management so that we can find ways to feel more confident and less stressed in our research, do work that is best aligned to our values and ethics, as well as maintain/improve the health of our broader disciplinary fields and institutions. Find Dr. Shiri Noy as well as information about her book, Project Management for Researchers: A Practical, Stress-Free Guide to Getting Organized, at https://www.shirinoy.com/.

Happy Solstice! In this episode, I discuss what mean by solstice-inspired rest, why you should rest over the winter break, how to rest, and what to do if you find rest difficult. Overall, rest can do magic, but takes courage, especially for academics. I have a wish that you practice trusting the process.

Dissertation coach, Dr. Jen Harrison, explains how certain cultural and structural issues prevent professors and institutions from fully supporting their grad students in their writing process. She names a number of issues including an "inside-outside" problem whereby academia does not want to accept help from those outside institutions. In the end, both grad students and professors find themselves bearing the weight of such problems, but Jen offers recommendations to improve conditions for all. Specifically, she discusses the power of writing groups. Find Dr. Jen Harrison at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-harrison-rwp/.