The beginning of the summer is always filled with mixed emotions; you might be sad that students have waved goodbye, but thrilled at the silence of your empty campus. There is a stack of paperwork waiting for you, but your meetings with students are no longer on your Outlook.

How can you use this summer to rejuvenate and “reboot” your life so when August or September comes, you are revitalized?

First know how you “recharge.” 

Knowing if you are an introvert, recharging with your alone time is key. Extroverts need time with people, the more the better. (Granted there are exceptions and if you are “in-between” you are called an ambivert.) More information about introversion can be found in a great book called Quiet by Susan Cain.

Now for some tips. (E) for extroverts and (I) for introverts.

(E) Go to a conference out of your area. 

Extroverts need contact, but they might need a new batch of people. We tend to talk about college and college and college and then some college. I’ve found that attending conferences based on my own interests helps me meet a new batch of people who have never, ever heard of a Room Condition and Inventory form. You can find these conferences through word of mouth, Facebook and good ol’ Google.

(E/I) Get back to your interests.

If you have forgotten your hobbies and interests, you might be in some trouble. Write down a list of 10 things you love to do that have nothing to do with your job. So if you write down “Hang out with students in the dining hall.” you have to scratch that one. Don’t edit it. If you love folk art puzzles and Crossfit, that’s fine. But get back to what you like and aim for those.

(I) Catching up over coffee.

Take a look at some friendships that have drifted off and “caffinate” them with a coffee date. We tend to think we are connecting with people while on social media, but actually need real connection. Call your friends and ask them out just for coffee and talk about anything not higher education related.

(I) Start a blog. 

Introverts love to process by themselves over time and a blog is a wonderful way to do that. It can be for special interest (social justice, hobbies) or your personal blog highlighting what you have going on. You can create cheaper blogs at tumblr and blogger or you can have more professional blogs at wordpress.

(E/I) Travel.

When someone tells me that they don’t use their vacation like it’s a badge of honor, I roll my eyes (and I do it out in the open—I don’t care.) Get out of your college, your town, your state and even better, your country. There are a ton of ways to travel cheaply and you can head to chrisguillebeau.com to find out how about affordable ways to get out of town!

(E/I) Long Look at your Finances

Take ONE day, an afternoon or evening and find out these totals:

• How much money you have currently.
• How much debt you have currently.
• What is your exact salary.
• How many months/years it will take to pay any debt you have off.

I can’t tell you how many college professionals are swimming in debt and I find that debt will burn you out quickly. Get a handle on it and make a plan to annihilate that debt as soon as possible.

Ryan McRae has served on Western Association of University and College Housing Officals board, as a Western Training Institute scholar and an all around nice guy. He was a Resident Director at Cal State San Marcos for 7 years. He currently freelance writer which is a peaceful break from his year in Afghanistan. He can be reached at ryanmcrae@mac.com.

Woke up this morning at 6am ready to go. Bags packed, guitar restrung, out of office reply written, online check-in complete…

I am fortunate to travel for my work – I go to conferences and meetings, trainings and events. Every once and a while though, when I print out that lovely boarding pass, I do it 105% for me only. When the baggage is stowed, and seats are in their upright and locked positions, and the landing gear hits pavement in a new place, I am actually and truly on vacation.

As I write this I am sitting in the Portland airport waiting for my plane. I am splurging and getting a foot massage in a few minutes. The spa is dimly lit, and I have a complimentary glass of iced peppermint tea. I can see my polished toes peeking out from behind the top of my laptop. I am wearing a sundress – something I can’t wear to work. I feel relaxed. 9-day weekend, here I come.

But of course it is not that simple. I already know that I will have to check my email. I will have to connect with that colleague who needs me to book a room for the event we are putting on. I will have to log that new student employee into our timeclock system. I will need to call Wednesday night to see how the food pantry went. I will, I will, I will…and if I am not careful it will pile up until I am putting in what amounts to hours when I should be sitting in a hot tub, doing yoga, drinking wine. You know when you sign on for the life of a Student Affairs professional that you will work odd hours, lots of hours, just…well…hours.

I worked as a field guide for a wilderness therapy program before I arrived at Oregon State. When you work in the field you are ON 24-7 for the whole time you are out there. Student needs to use the faciliTREES at 2am? Yep – I am up and making sure they get back to camp in the dark. Lunch might not be until 5 because a kid ran away. I often found myself shivering by a fire at midnight, the kids FINALLY in bed, heating cocoa as the snow accumulates on my shoulders. It’s tough, but one thing I will say for it – when I was not at work, I was not working.

Why is it so hard to unplug? I am sure there are some of you who are thinking as you read this, “duh…I can do it, so can you,” and others who are thinking, “you will only do some email on your time away – lucky!” I think one thing that really contributes to it all for me is being in a world where I can connect all. the. time. My phone streams #SAlife to me second by second, and it is just all too easy for me to go with that flow. Not to mention that my friends are all #SApro, and so my personal life is dotted with reminders of the life. I was out with a friend who was skydiving on the weekend for her birthday. JUST before she hopped on the plane, she got a phone call for work. Another friend and I quickly stepped in to mitigate the situation so she could make the jump.

…and, I will say with pride that I am completing this blog post AFTER my vacation.

So yea, I did take the better part of one morning to take care of the most important bits – and when I think about it rationally, I am unsure how important they really are. I wonder what part of the “I must work, no matter what,” is ego. I had chat with a colleague yesterday about potentially going to school for a doctorate part time (I am leaning toward full-time), and wanted to hear about her experience. She worked 4 10′s and then went to school on Fridays. “I’m not sure I can do that…,” I mused. “Yes you can,” she said, “you have to remember that the work is not about you. If it has to get done, it will whether you are there or not.” It was a good point. I wonder what it would look like for us to truly unplug and see what happened. I imagine that the world would not come tumbling down. Yes, when I got back there were lots of things that were held for me by my students to take care of. There were also decisions made that I would have preferred to be run by me before they were made. In the end though all was well, and if there were issues, there was a strong team of colleagues who could have stepped in to help out.

Maybe next time I go on vacation I will reclaim my morning and go to the pool.

Image Borrowed From Here

Something that I’ve come to appreciate during my time in higher ed is the value of face recognition. Whether it’s someone you’ve seen a dozen or more times or someone you just happen to randomly bump into 5 years ago in a stop and shop parking lot. Remembering the times and places we’ve met individuals along the road of life can be a hugely beneficial tool when we find ourselves diving headfirst into large national conventions.

My problem is, names. I have one of the best image memories of anyone I know, but when it comes to connecting that face to an actual name, title, etc. I am more often than not at a loss. Why won’t my brain just store everything nice and neatly in a filing cabinet format so I can connect these important details?

I know this is an area of weakness of mine. So recently I tested things out to see how I may still be able to take full utilization of my memories of interactions, and the product thus far has been quite fruitful. As I interact with folks either on campus, at small conferences, or at enormous conventions, there are 3 things I do.

1. The business card / self email. Usually folks in the field have business cards. As many folks have learned, trading cards and writing the information of your conversation on the back for a refresher later on is very useful. I’ve also gotten in the habit of actually writing down the specific place, time, interaction, and any unique things that happened in that contact moment. It’s not even that I look back at all of the cards for reference, rather, I’ve found that simply writing it down increases the percentage of retained memory by an amazing sum. Unfortunately, at many of the larger conventions, lots of the attendees are grad students and new professionals who may not have cards yet to dole out. (Although the trend is changing thankfully!) To cover my bases there, I’ve actually been a digital nerd and will systematically send myself an email with all the persons info, our interaction, and a brief physical description, so that when I return home, I can still look back and make a mental recording for future interactions.
2. Connect soon thereafter. I’ve been notorious for not connecting for months after conferences and institutes. As soon as my feet hit campus again I get thrown into the melee and the momentum to keep connected quickly dissipates. Its normally not until I’m cleaning out my car a few months later and I find the collection of business cards that I remember to reach out! This is a bad habit and I highly suggest you do not do the same. Rather, now I have found much better use for my time in airports and rest stops en route to the home turf. Instead of checking facebook or doing office triage from a distance, I take those minutes and hours and reach out almost immediately. In an ideal world my face and persona will be memorable for at least a couple days post meeting me, so that may just be the best time to engage in an initial follow-up dialogue. It’s been great creating and maintaining those relationships better.
3. Find folks EVERYWHERE! LinkedIn is great, but with the way technology is, it’s actually incredibly easy to (in a healthy way) stalk those you’ve met on other platforms as well. Linking on LinkedIn is a good start, but then see if that individual has a facebook where you can become more of a pro-social acquaintance or friend. The other big one is Twitter. I seek and follow as many folks as I can that I meet in person at various places and events. Tweeting in many ways has become my new texting, and as such, it’s much easier to stay in touch leading up to the next possible opportunity to see each other, and also have great convos on things like #SAChat. Finally, using this time to find any blogs that those folks might author can be huge, as you are now able to create a mutually beneficial resource relationship.

Although it’s only been a few short months now, taking these actions have really advanced my ability to retain a face AND name connection with folks I’ve met. As we leap into our various conferences and conventions in the coming weeks and months, my hope is that the masses of folks I encounter will become new colleagues, connections and friends. For all of you, I wish the same! Figure out what works best for you to make connections that last both mentally and physically, and you will surely win big

We’ve noticed an increased interest in sharing resources and offering opportunities for professional development that can be done outside of the conference setting. Enter #SAReads. (AKA: the best book club you’ve ever imagined.) We’ll have a monthly common reading that will cover personal and/or professional development, with an on going discussion happening in the #SAReads group on GoodReads and on Twitter using the #SAReads hashtag. We’ll use Google Hangouts from time to time to discuss the common readings, too. #SAReads is led by Kristen Abell.

For our first book, we will be reading Five Seconds at a Time by Denis Shackel. Plan to finish your book by March 13th, 2013!

Find the GoodReads group here.

Have questions or comments? Let us know below! Interested in helping out with the book club? Email us at thesablog [at] gmail [dot] com.

This is Daisy. She’s about 5, but we’re not sure because she’s a shelter dog. When she was surrendered, they left her with two dirty dishes and a skinned tennis ball. They didn’t leave any documentation or notes from her past. When I saw her at the shelter, she was in an outside run, covered in mud, and smelled so bad. I’m pretty sure my husband thought I was nuts when I said I wanted her. We’ve had her for three years now, and she keeps teaching me more and more about life.

She came to us fully trained, she knows the basic and fun commands, she’s crate trained, and doesn’t beg for food. Everyone she meets loves her. She’s epileptic, which we didn’t know when we adopted her, and when she seizes she loses consciousness. It’s terrible to watch, but after a few minutes, which can feel like hours, she’s back to her normal self. She’s allergic to grains and can’t process dairy, so she eats special food. She also has other random allergies. Because of her special needs she has to take pills, and she gets her ears cleaned regularly. She takes it all like a champ. We visit the vet so often, they know me and my animals as soon as I call. She loves going for walks, and bathing in the sunlight. She can be so funny that even after a really frustrating day, she brings a smile to my face. I’ll get home, distracted and ready to finish whatever needs to get done, and she’ll patiently wait for me to notice her, sitting with her ears perked up and tail wagging away.

She makes me think that those of us working in Higher Education should be more like her. Bad things can happen, budgets get cut, long hours are worked, and students can make bad decisions. But, there are still always good things. We can get our “treats” if we let ourselves look for good moments in the tough times. We get to watch students succeed, and really, what is better than that? The students who have so many questions, or walk into our offices frustrated, are empowered by the knowledge we can give them. We can open that door and let them have some sunlight.

We don’t always know a student’s background, where they came from, or what special needs they might have. As we find out about those identities, we can connect with them and help them find people and resources to allow them to flourish. Some might need extra help, but those can be the sweetest victories. Even the small connections, for example a student worker offering you a ride to the airport, is a precious treat.

What’s your favorite part of working with students? Have any of them surprised you with an insight or connection they’ve made?

Image via Kevinthoule

Have you ever had the feeling that it’s never enough?  The work you’re doing is wonderful but there is more to be done and greater things to be achieved? What a strange emotion to encounter. If you think about it the work we do today would look like light years of work only a few decades ago.  Booming technology advances and better research led us to a time that must look remarkable to past generations. Yet I find myself, and seemingly many of my peers, never quite satisfied with my accomplishments.  I walked through campus today and ended up behind a young woman on the phone, she was sharing that her last final had just ended and yet she felt there was more left to do. She remarked how there was nothing remaining on her to-do list and the semester was over yet no weight was lifted from her shoulders.  The most off putting moment of this brief encounter (and slight accidental eavesdropping) was no red flags were triggered. I continued on with my walk not thinking about it until I wrote the first sentence of this post 10 minutes ago. How could a feeling like that exist? Final examinations are over and seemingly no other tasks exist, shouldn’t a wave of relief and freedom be rushing over her at the very moment her exam was laid down in front of the professor? When talking with students I directly advise their feelings are similar.  They are “done” for the semester but continue working on various projects or even preparing for the next semester.  I hear it so often maybe that’s why it didn’t shock me to hear this woman sharing similar feelings.

It leads me to believe that the world has sped up but only because it’s been forced to do so. Probably by our own insatiable drive. The world spins on its axis at the same rate as it did centuries long passed, it rotates around the sun at the same speed as it always has. Yet wouldn’t you agree that time has jumped to a remarkable and frightening pace? Every moment we feel that more must be done, somehow setting absolutely ridiculous expectations on ourselves while we often miss the beautiful, calm world developing each day around us.

This is a much larger philosophical discussion then I care to dive into within one blog post.  Rather I want to focus this discussion and the questions it raises  on how we interact with our students.  I work at a highly-selective institution that recently ranked as one of the most stressful universities in the country (how much weight you put on those rankings is up to you). I’ve come to realize that because we work at such a break neck pace, as do our students, maybe I’m doing something wrong by not enforcing my statements that students need to slow down.  I always tell students to take time for themselves, to relax and find some outlet other then work to find enjoyment. But should I be nudging them harder to stop and smell the roses even though everything inside me keeps telling me to run faster? I don’t know if there are any great answers to these questions (as is normal for any great life discussions) but it would be nice to have a better understanding of the fine line between pushing students farther and pulling students back.

I’ve asked students one question more then any other in the past few months: “How do you define success?” I selfishly admit I love the look on student’s faces as they scramble to come up with an answer.  Often their first response is not their final and it takes a few tries until a statement is found that really resonates. When I ask that question internally I wonder if my face contorts in the same way the student’s do. Ask yourself this: How are we defining success for our students? Is it their development (which can be difficult to measure)? Is it achieving personal or organizational goals? Is it defining and living their values? Or is it just helping students slow down and learn to live, love, and embrace the vastly unique world they have been gifted? In my current place in life I come to believe that it is a mixture of them all yet I still wonder whether or not they would continue to work as diligently with or without me and I should instead be advising them to meditate or take long bike rides.

If you want more thought inducing content take a look at this video on the Secret Powers of Time. 

Image borrowed from www.amillionlives.net

Sometimes there is an advantage to being so busy that you don’t really leave your office much. One of those advantages is the fact that you always have anything you need to answer a question within an arms reach or a finger’s stroke so you can jump into triage mode and solve every issue that comes through the door. But what about when you actually get a chance to head to the dining hall and get a real lunch? What happens then, when in the midst of chewing your Caesar salad wrap or chicken sandwich, a student decides that moment, right then, is the only time they can approach you to get the answer to that “real quick question”? Do you jump to your duty and assist in that instant whether it’s urgent or not, or do you take a breadth, mentally set your boundary, and indicate the need for meeting at a later time?

Unfortunately I know for myself, as a new professional all shiny and go-gettery, it’s been difficult to refrain from this immediate call to action. Several times I’ve found myself ignoring my own need for sustenance, and instead make solving the problem on the spot my priority. Recently, however, I’ve learned from many of my colleagues and veteran student affairs professionals, the value of setting these very specific boundaries. We need to help our students understand that their issues of immediate concern, and that “quick question” are not always life or death. In fact, I dare say that the vast majority of what are considered “crises” are not such.

We need to learn to eat our lunches, and educate students on the etiquette that is expected in the “real” world when it comes to appropriate meetings and interactions. As many of us know, it’s not likely you’ll find a work environment where running up to your boss while they are eating is the appropriate way of engaging them in an “urgent” matter. Yet we don’t model this reality?

So what am I really saying here folks. Well, 1. Finish your lunch. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, how can you fulfill taking care of others. 2. Model behaviors you see as ideal. If you don’t want people to interrupt you mid chew, or while you are standing at the urinal, then model correct behavior and learn the art of time diversion; indicating a need to set up a later time to interact. Ideally, they will understand the need to have better interaction etiquette. Finally; 3. Start to figure out what “boundaries” look like for you personally. I’m sure they don’t look identical to mine or the person’s sitting near you, but figure out where those key boundaries are, and for the sake of the greater good, appreciate and advocate for where those boundaries lay.

It takes strength. It takes willpower. It takes some fantastical belief that whatever that next big step you took will keep you  on the path towards fulfillment (whatever that even means). It’s a naivety that not everyone has, seemingly losing it along the way through some combination of fear and being content.

Transition is actually quite simple. All it requires is one person who want’s\need’s something to shift in their life. It could be as basic as salary or vicinity to family.  Or it could be as complex as needing to run away, to find the person you dreamed of finding, to reinvent yourself, or even to lose yourself entirely. We all do it for our own personal reasons. It can be selfish, cowardly, courageous, and self-less. Each transition offers a valuable insight into a persons mind. It might take time to unpack it all but once you find it? It is the key to who they are and who they dream of becoming.

There is a price to be paid. Leaving people behind and losing touch. Stumbling through a brand new system of social and political norms in and outside the workplace. Screwing up for the first time and not being close enough with your supervisor to know how bad it really might be. Chasing dreams has a cost. Granted the cost of a new job in a new city is insignificant in the grand scheme of life but you understand my point. Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.  It’s not meant to cause a U-turn, it’s meant to toughen you up. It’s how you learn the new surroundings and how you ultimately thrive within them. Have you ever tried starting over from scratch? Reconfiguring your life to a world unknown only a few months earlier. I remember my first gut-wrenching move. During one of my odd, lonely ramblings I told my closest friend that I was going to marry the next person I dated. Obviously that was an outlandish statement (although if it happened it may have been the greatest “I told you so” of my short life). I said it not because I meant it, I said it because I was scared and needed someone. I needed someone who could walk me through what I’d just done because I hadn’t yet understood it myself.

So when does the “transition period” end? It doesn’t. Life is a continuously evolving transition, you may have just amped it up for a period of time. The best answer is this: transition has slowed once you rely on people in your current town more then you do those friends afar. Once you’ve shifted your support structure then you can say you’ve downshifted the transition. It may feel like one long waiting period. As if just on the other side of the door is the life you were looking for but your number just hasn’t been called yet.  Kicking that door down Van Damme style probably won’t help.  It takes patience. There is no fast lane.

I will say it again: strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. But damn is the view beautiful over the horizon.

[Note: This is the last post in this Life in Transition series. It has been a pleasure - and honestly therapeutic - to write these posts. I hope they've been comforting and helpful, that has always been the goal.]

 Photo courtesy crookrw

Photo courtesy of Tony Cachaca

I don’t know everything about transition (apparently I know four things). However my most reflective moments have hidden themselves underneath this strange urge to continue uprooting myself to seek out something that smells new and wreaks of struggle. I want to share just a sliver of the insights I have gained during the process.

1. Stay uncomfortable

Did you just move to a brand new city where you know few people? Yes? Then listen up.  The couch can be incredibly alluring when anything beyond it is foreign and unknown. It’s remarkably easy to find yourself watching reruns of Friends (been there) or watching terrible Will Smith movies (done that, and I stand by Wild Wild West as a four out of five).  The world is churning around you but you wouldn’t know it unless you peak out every now and then. Join a kickball league. Take a class. Sit at a bar, have a beer, and chat up whomever sits near you. You’ll never know what a new city can offer if you don’t meet it head on. It might be awful for a while. It could take a long time for anything to stick. But when it does… the whole city will open up before your eyes. Stay at it. Be awkward, uncomfortable, out of place. It only takes one encounter, one moment to lead you to the life you pictured before taking the leap. Remember, Edison did not fail at inventing the light bulb, he just found 2,000 ways not to make one.

2. Remain optimistic and naive

This goes hand in hand with #1. There are enough troubles in the world without having to add “Adjust to a city and make all new friends.” There’s a slippery slope that follows transition and at the basin lie self-doubt and depression.  Granted those are worst case scenarios but it comes in all different sizes and shapes so know that others have indeed faced those demons. Forcing yourself to stay uncomfortable is the only way to break into a new scene but if it takes a while to catch on then you must also stay hopelessly optimistic and naive. It’s easy to lose that and get down on yourself, so I’m here to say this: Stop it. Keep going.  Every happy hour, office outing, meet-up posted online, they should all be viewed as that potential “one moment” where you meet folks you connect with. You might go to dozens of these gatherings and not find exactly what you’re looking for. But guess what? It only takes one. I can’t press this enough. Keep trying. Always walk into a situation knowing it is your turn.

3. Your first impressions will be wrong

It’s almost like being dropped into the forest and you need to figure out your situation quickly or perish. You have to size up your surroundings. Except in a new job you don’t – and shouldn’t – size anyone up. Sadly our human nature pushes us to  place people into boxes so it can better understand. It’s a tough urge to fight. No matter where you place people or whatever first impressions you stumble upon they will be wrong. You might call a few characteristics correctly but whatever overall judgement you try to place will be off the mark – sometimes even severely. Don’t feel bad about it; remember it’s human nature for us to try understanding those around us in whatever way we can. The delineation comes when you choose actions based off the preconceived notions.  Know that people will continue to surprise you. Give people way too many chances to impress you.  More often then not they will.

4. You shouldn’t go through this alone

You might think you can – but you can’t. Theres honestly too much for you to process and reflect on to believe one brain, heart, and soul can understand it all. There is a time and place to use your friends and family to help and this is one of those times. Call in the reinforcements. Some people feel uncomfortable unloading problems but that is a fallacy. They are your friends and family because they care about you. Plain and simple. Use this flux to reconnect, listen to some of their struggles, and share a few of yours.

Everyone goes through transition in their own way. You might think you are alone, stranded on an island but you’re not. Look across the pond and you’ll see thousands of islands just like yours with thousands of people just like you trying to write HELP in the sand.

[One last tip: Find a great TV show to get into. It's better to be completely wrapped up in a TV series then sitting around during the down times with only you and your thoughts. 3 years ago it was Whose Line is it Anyway? this year I've moved on to West Wing. It all helps with patience.

“Right now, life is like a thousand TV screens, each with different things on it. Where you were just at, each screen was flashing RED, and that meant danger. Now, you’ve got to work on not seeing every screen as RED, and know that one screen might be RED, one might be YELLOW, and the others might be a beautiful blue sky.”

My last post talked about the difficult change I was going through, moving from Oakland back into a nice higher ed environment. With this change comes a certain level of anxiety. This is a fairly new environment, with completely new individuals, new expectations, new culture to navigatge. My position is brand new, and there is no precedent for what is expected. Everything is new. Being back in higher ed is nice, but I have to learn not to be hyper vigilant at every situation.

In my work, I had to be on “high alert”. I was working at a elementary school in a rough part of Oakland, and we had a variety of characters coming through the door. We had families who had lost their homes and were living in cars, divorced parents who were fighting for custody, aggressive parents who didn’t care what anybody said about their child (despite the fact that the students had significant issues), parents involved in drug dealing, and the unknown family member that just showed up to say hello. If a child told us that they were afraid to go home because the dealers across the street were going to steal their textbooks, I would walk them home at night to make sure they got their safe. If a mother wanted to stay in the school because her husband was beating her and the kids and wanted us to call the cops, our school was the only sanctuary they had. We had a saying amongst the administration: “it’s all for the kids, so let’s keep the babies safe”. So, when a random person walked in demanding to see a student, or if a student said they were being abused, we had a rigid safety protocol to follow. If that family member didn’t like it (which happened often), they had two choices: do what we say or we’ll get the Sheriff. You never really knew who was coming through the door, and what they were bringing.

Now that I’m in a different world, I struggle with such a drastic change. I’ll get students coming in who have experienced traumatic situations, but I’m more than capable in handling those moments. Once a 12 year old student tells you he wants to sell drugs and go after the cop that killed his father, nothing really shocks you after that. What is difficult is living in the nice, tranquil environment I’m in. I’m not used to quiet. I’m not used to the scenic walk across campus, the lush green grass, the cool breeze that hits my face. It’s weird to see people laying on the lawn reading books, playing frisbee, taking pictures. I know it’s real, but it doesn’t FEEL real.

I went to an Associate Dean about my experiences, and she related to me. We both worked with at-risk youth in urban environments, and both made a switch to student affairs. Her comment, related above, really resonated with my current experiences. She also mentioned “talk to your colleagues. You understand what they go through as professionals, but they need to know where you’re coming from.”  That process is already happening with some good results.

My circular path to this work took me through places and experiences that many of us will never endure in our lifetimes. Does that make me a better professional? Probably not. Does that make me a unique professional? Definitely so. What I’ve been through has enriched my professional tools and techniques, and has made me more understanding and sympathetic to what people go through in life. We all as professionals believe in the redemptive value of our students; we are trained to hope and wish students will learn from their experiences and become more productive members of their communities. In my new realities, I’m striving to find the redemptive value in myself.