(originally appeared in Huffington Post) In my early twenties, while working in publishing and pursuing my first graduate degree, I discovered running. At first, two miles was as far as I ventured. I ran the twenty blocks from my apartment on Manhattan’s upper east side up to 90th street and 3rd avenue and back. I loved the feeling of passing…
Tag: inspiration
Embracing Change
(originally posted in LinkedIn Pulse) Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. – Stephen Hawking The last 1.5 years for me have been about change: leaving corporate America, starting up my own company, witnessing its growth through hard work, experimentation, taking risks, and a little luck. Then, amid it all, I accepted a full-time associate professor role, which led…
Brooklyn Girls
(originally appeared in Huffington Post)First, it was me and my mom. We were the original Brooklyn girls. From my earliest days, my mom was my partner when it came to navigating Brooklyn and its eccentricities. She had a no-nonsense and straightforward disposition that taught me that if you didn’t speak-up for yourself, then you risked living your life on someone…
Temporary Solutions: meditations from a 100-mile journey
(originally appeared in Huffington Post) A day after landing in Florida upon completing Badwater 135 this past July, my cat and I boarded a plane to start our next chapter in Washington, D.C. A day after that, I started my new job and I haven’t had a minute to look back. Everything has been new, different, and nonstop without much…
Keys 100 – 2017: The Way Back
Looking Back For the past few decades, Key West has signified a starting point and an ending point in my life. So much of my history is wrapped up in the Keys. My first venture to Key West was about Ernest Hemingway, whose writings and life I devoted almost a decade of graduate school to exploring. There was the Key…
IMPACT
The past year, in my life as a professor, I asked myself daily before I walked into each class what my goal was. That kept it real for me. It helped me to get out of my own way, forget my to-do lists, and set the tone for each session. The goal, always, was to engage my students, share knowledge,…
Where are you going; Where have you been?
I moved. After ten years in one place, I displaced myself. There were mounds of clothes and books and stuff to give away. There were items to sort through—papers, letters, writings. I found over 60 short stories that I had written as an undergrad and later as a graduate student; often, there were endless drafts of each one, including notes on how to rework the stories…
Advice to Students: Dream Big
The end of the semester always makes me nostalgic and reflective of my own school days, when the promise of all that was to come was palpable. Throughout the school year, I’m privileged to be surrounded by college students, although some days, between teaching, office hours, and grading papers, the experience is reminiscent of trudging through quick sand. It is…
Tips for Professionals Looking for Gigs
If you currently consult or are thinking about joining the gig economy – characterized by freelance work or short-term contracts as opposed to permanent work—LinkedIn ProFinder is a great resource. As I ventured from a longstanding career in the corporate world to starting up my own career-coaching business this past year, networking was a key element to my success. I…
Why We All Need to Practice More Yoga
“Life means to be living. Problems will always be there. When they arise navigate through them with yoga—don’t take a break.” – B.K.S. Iyengar In Sanskrit, the word yoga means union. While it’s easy to get allured into perceiving yoga as a physical practice that burns calories and offers an outlet for cute clothes and gear, yoga, which can be…