Try this at home – Daily Freakout

Pulling Up Clay as Daring Greatly

How I’m using my pottery class as a practice in learning to “dare greatly;” be vulnerable, be willing to fail in order to succeed.

Talking Back to Anxiety

Anyone who suffers from anxiety knows what it feels like to be told, “you should just…” followed by some oversimplified answer. Or the sentence ends in some technique you’ve already tried (and tried). My favorite advice regarding my driving issue is, “Just get on the highway.” This pearl comes straight…

Driving with Bruce and an Uncomfortable Truth

It occurs to me as I approach the Interstate, that I’m about to follow a sign that I’ve been avoiding eye contact with for years. And this time I’m on my own. Well, except for Bruce the psychedelic sea turtle, a stuffed passenger I’ve named after my driving instructor. With…

Fitting Out, Or No PhD No Problems

Not Getting on (the PhD) Track Not until senior year in college did I learn that not everyone has to earn PhD. That’s how I used to put it, anyway, and only half joking. My parents both had PhDs, their friends all (seemingly) had PhDs. I certainly knew that plenty…

Fear of Driving Meets Driving School: Finally, Genuine Progress

An unexpectedly effective therapy for fear of highway driving.

One Buoy at a Time: Swimming in Open Water

From the sandy beach, I followed the gaze of the triathlon club’s swim test official. He pointed to the buoys marking lengths across the roped off area of the lake; four lengths were required, roughly 200 yards. I regularly swim 2000 yard workouts in the pool and am barely winded after…