New Beginnings

Rereading my last post feels very strange. What was only a month and a half ago feels like lightyears away. Thinking back, I must have immediately started to feel more grounded and settled in my life here after writing about how difficult the transition had been. 

In part, I allowed myself a nice stretch of time to breathe--go on walks, explore, get to know some locals. Shortly after that I really dug into my work. I designed all of my courses, I wrote a proposal for an anthology chapter, I started collaborating on an SCMS panel proposal, and I very quickly started to feel like myself again--but calmer. The work doesn't carry the same feelings that it did pre-PhD. I'm less stressed, more focused, and I'm certainly getting a lot more sun here in Minnesota.

This week wraps up hours and hours of faculty orientations, meet and greets, and hybrid meetings. Come Monday I get back in the classroom for the first time since spring 2020, and Alex starts his new job as a Calibration Technician in electronics manufacturing. In our rearview mirror we are leaving behind my final stress-filled stretch of formal education and Alex's very dirty career in plastic extrusion. We are continuing forward in calmer and cleaner waters--and I hope I never recognize green plastic dye ever again.