Similar to my advice for year one post, this week I’m sharing some thoughts about the advice I might give myself during year two, if I was going to do it all over again. Here they are, in no particular order.
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How did movement go? Ugh… not well. I think maybe I set myself up for a challenge by starting off the month saying it was the “easiest” thing for me to work into my schedule. Fast forward to the end of the month and this one definitely has felt the hardest. We’ve been way off our old routine, going to bed super late and glued to our screens in the evening. Ellie has also been asserting her independence in every way possible (to put it nicely), which is awesome, and also exhausting, and I think Mike and I are both going through some parenting burnout. We also had a rough patch of sleep for most of July and my back has really been bothering me. So… movement was hard.
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If you’re just tuning in, I’m dedicating the next few posts to my goals/progress for years 1 and 2 on the tenure track (a year 3 post will come once the summer is over). Now, on to year 2, which felt drastically better than year 1. We’d been in Portland for a full year, we were living in a more permanent space, we had solid friendships, and overall just felt a lot more settled. First, I’ll share what was going on during year 2…
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Last week I shared what my first year looked like. This week I’m sharing some thoughts about what helped during the first year. Kind of like advice I’d give to my past self. In no particular order, here are some of the main things I’d remind myself of on a daily basis if I had to do it all over again.
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I have been busy behind the scenes and have two big updates for you!
First… I have a mailing list! Which feels like a huge deal to me… not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it makes this space feel so much more official. You can sign up for it on the main page: www.toddleronthetenuretrack.com. As a thank you for signing up, you’ll also get a 7 step guide that I put together for planning a tantrum free (ha!) academic year.
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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a recap of my first and second years on the tenure track, along with some reflections about what I learned each year. Once summer is done (for me, that’s in September), I’ll share insights from my third year (still got a few more months to work on those goals!).
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You might be wondering what the the picture above is all about… well, Ellie’s night time sleep routine is holding steady, with at least one middle of the night wake up per night. Our friends have a “toddler clock” and had good results with it; however, we didn’t want to shell out any money for something that Ellie was just going to ignore. That’s where this car (aka Bob the car), nightlight, trivet situation comes in.
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I’m wrapping up month two of my back to basics “challenge.” At the beginning of May I mentioned that I’d be making an effort to focus on the things that make me feel like a whole person. You can read my initial post here. May was all about sleep, June was all about meditation, and July is all about movement.
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A few months ago I had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Emily Roberts of Personal Finance for PhDs on her podcast. If you’re not familiar with Emily, she runs an awesome website with lots of info about the ins and outs of all the financial decisions that grad students and early career PhDs are faced with. During the episode we chatted about my student loan situation, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, stay and home dad-ing, and more!
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In the words of Daniel Tiger… “that was fun but now it’s done.” We had two major endings this week. We ended our two week trip to the east coast and I officially ended my third year on the tenure track (my contract ended last Sunday and grades were due on Tuesday… don’t ask me why they make grades due after our contracts end and after graduation…). With these 2 big events coming to an end, I’ve been thinking a lot about the passage of time. When Ellie was an infant, I sporadically listened to the podcast, The Longest Shortest Time, and I think about the title often because it so accurately describes life with a young kid. In the midst of the year, it felt like time was dragging and that our trip to see family was light years away, and now here I am settling back into daily life and it’s all done.
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