After resigning from my full time position last year (in 2022) I stayed on to adjunct, thinking I could balance that with the other things in my life that I wanted to invest my time in.
It turns out that making space for my creative endeavors, and for being self-employed, wasn’t working. It was like looking at an already overflowing closet and trying to stuff just one more shirt in there.
In order to make space, something had to go. May 16, 2023, I posted final grades for the final time. While the decision to leave formal education was difficult in many ways, it was incredibly easy in others. Working in academia had long ceased to be fulfilling in my life, and often left me drained, depressed, and anxious. When I lead a workshop, teach a yoga class, edit a document, or just research for my own projects, I feel energized.
The formula is rather simple, I suppose. To do what feels good for me and for my life, I had to stop doing what felt bad for me and my life. I couldn’t go forward in half measures.
As Ron Swanson told Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”
I feel relief, peace, and excitement going forward. I am eager to see what I can do, and eager to share it with you.
Ink and Vein 