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Belonging in Academia: Space, Pace and Breathing…

Ever catch yourself questioning whether you belong in academia? Whatever your automatic response to this question is: an inch of distance changes your space, your pace and also how you breathe…

Especially given the Covid19-context, causing higher stress levels in general: if you crave an academic year in which you’ll have full access to your time and energy for your research, teaching and core responsibilities instead of let’s say… self-doubt and self-defeating dynamics, this post will help you on your way.

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To connect or disconnect

In counseling, the mother of all interventions is meeting up. Getting together. Sitting down, face to face. By really arriving, here and now, willing to be near whatever is up, both the counselor and the coachee enable themselves to relate. To be present. Being seen, heard, acknowledged, especially regarding the stuff that is derailing, is vital if we want to grow. In life, however, …

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Shame on you!

Quick question: have you ever felt ashamed of yourself after having presented a paper, sat in at a faculty meeting, after giving a lecture or following some other form of academic performance? Have you ever felt ashamed of who you are? Probably not something that you’d like to admit… But very useful to acknowledge nonetheless. There’s golden data in this, in terms of reaching your highest potential. Want to find out why?

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On Saying ‘No’: the Art and Magic of Declining

Working with groups of academics, practicing ‘saying no’ turns out to be such fun, every single time: “Let’s just practice saying ‘No’. One, two, three: ‘No.’ One, two, three: ‘No’. One more time, one, two…, three… ‘No!'” Faces light up. Saying ‘No!’, very obviously, is fun. And let’s face it. The importance of knowing how to say ‘no’ cannot be overstated in an academic career.

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Our inboxes: why academic ‘suffering’ needs accepting, not fixing…

Have you ever felt like you were ‘bracing before impact’ the moment you decided you should be opening your inbox? Maybe you were* dreading the people who expected to hear back from you. At other times, you may have felt nervous because you were expecting a peer review or a response to an application for research funding. If your experiences resemble mine then you know that the phrasing in those emails can affect your day (to put it mildly)…

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