Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving Break and found time to reflect on what you are thankful for, no matter how big or small. It is amazing what stopping to be thankful does to the soul! Confession The week before the break, I will confess that I was not heeding my usual advice about taking breaks between writing sessions. I had SO much on my plate, but I seemed to add more by constantly checking my emails, online courses, electronic calendar, and texts. At one point, my eyes literally started to hurt. And things got a bit blurry. My eye muscles were tired. I don't want this to happen to you (or to me!) as we close out the academic year. Challenge My challenge for you and for me is to make sure to take breaks at least every hour. By breaks, I mean literally setting a timer to remind yourself to GET OFF SCREENS for at least 5 minutes before your next writing/screen session. Allow your eyes to blink and your body to move and don't use the break to be on more s

Dear Real Academics, I am not a marathon runner, but I know enough about endurance running to compare this time of the academic year to the near end of a race: seeing the finish line in the distance but being near exhaustion.  I've heard endurance athletes explain how 80% of finishing a race is mental/psychological.  This is how and why athletes in their middle age and beyond can and do often beat athletes in their twenties.  In other words, age is an advantage in the mental/psychological arena simply because of maturity and experience, and this psychological advantage trumps age and even natural physiology. As I think about myself as a writer, I can agree how age has certainly helped me psychologically endure more than I used to be able to endure.  I am able to handle rejection much better than before and any ego about my perfectionist tendencies that I can never quite achieve is out the window.  With that said, these facts do not mean perseverance gets any easier. What does this

  Dear Real Academics, November is traditionally the month of giving thanks in the United States. Ever since my family moved here from Mexico, Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays, and one that I love to share with friends I meet who come from around the world. It is a time for counting and sharing the many blessings in my life. For all the bad in the world -- and there's an insane amount of bad at the time I am writing this blog post -- it is good for the soul to give thanks for blessings, no matter how big or small. This weekend, I provided writing feedback to about a dozen students in a small amount of time. These are students I have never met and that I do not teach. Some sent me whole dissertations. Some sent me small reflection paper assignments. Some sent me statistics assignments requiring a write-up. I thoroughly enjoyed providing them all feedback, but I'll be honest -- I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. (Hence, while this blog post is later than