Through the advice of one of my longtime mentors, I was encouraged to read a short yet profound book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Maybe he sensed something stirring inside of me that I had yet to really recognize for myself. In this book, author Seth Godin wrote and referred to this place that I was finding myself a very straightforward way. I won’t tell you any more than that because I think that anyone who is at a point where they are not sure if they want to persevere or quit (whatever that “it” may be) should read this and make their own decision(s). After reading this book, I have bought it for some and encouraged others I have taught, who I sensed had approached a similar point in their journeys, to read and/or buy it. Yet, I, as time has passed, found that “The Dip” was incomplete in capturing and aiding me in my own evolutionary journey.

As I now sit here in a public space, I find myself reflecting on the journey that I’m currently on. It is full of wonderful experiences that I would not trade for the world, yet it also has its moments in which I quite honestly wonder why I’m here and doing what I do beyond that of an educator. As this new entry unfolds, I will share those moments when I find myself in the very place that I seek to convey through these posts, a place of discomfort. How did I get to the point where I would openly and honestly share moments of vulnerability with those who elect to read? I honestly don’t know. I would like to say it came with my evolution as a budding scholar/intellectual/educator/poet and all of the other descriptors I’ve collected over my lifetime. I would like to believe it was when I began teaching as a faculty member at my current university, the University of South Florida. Or could it have been when personal decisions caused me to rethink my vision of who and what I wished to be holistically. Over the course of these entries, perhaps these questions will be answered for myself and maybe someone else who finds her/himself in a comparable place.

So with all of this being said, I welcome you to “Living in the Discomfort: A Journey of Self Discovery and Actualization”. In this process, let’s see where this journey will take us. I encourage others to comment and share their moments of “living in the discomfort” as well. The ball is now in your court until my next entry…

PSDW~