Category: Uncategorized
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On Writing
I have been writing every day for November over on substack, in an online research diary. The daily substacks give little insights into my thought processes around the writing part of my life, ranging from notes on a research idea to my frustration at a disrupted evening when I had planned to write (this blog…
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On saying ‘no’
At a recent somatic class with Rebekah Ballagh (Journey to Wellness), Becks invited us to practice saying ‘no’. This invitation came as the culmination of a series of gentle practices aimed at opening up our throats and releasing stuck tension from neck, chest, and jaw. Somatic practices, like those developed by Pay Ogden and Peter…
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Starting a PhD with Wellness in Mind
If you are a regular reader and would like to support me to produce more free content, do consider buying me a coffee via my supporters page. Thank you for reading. It’s that time of year when research postgraduates tend to start their programmes, or to be transitioning from their first year reviews. So in…
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Workplace trauma and the ‘second violence’
In this post I am going to explore workplace trauma, and the effect that not having our stories heard can have. Trauma is a common word these days, in part due to the efforts of online psychoeducators to destigmatise normal mental health challenges from public and private shame. But the overuse of trauma as a…
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Understanding Imposter Syndrome
We all know it, we’ve all felt it. Academics talk flippantly of imposter syndrome, and it seems to be a generally accepted aspect of working in the sector. This phenomenon is also true of the cultural and creative sectors, with whom academics have more in common than they might generally accept. Any time we put…
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FREE Resource for Grief
I recently write a series on grief and its role in recovering from loss and processing disappointment. If that series resonated with you and you would like to go further, I am now offering a free resource. This journaling workbook takes you through the five stages on the Kübler-Ross & Kessler Change Curve with explanations…
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The Problem with Perfectionism
Kicking off a new series, I am going to explore some of the key challenges that clients often bring to coaching: topics like procrastination, imposter syndrome, dealing with rejection, and experiencing anger at work. I’m starting with perfectionism, and in particular its impacts on our ability to produce creative work, because this is something I…
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How to Grieve
In my last few blog posts I have explored the ways in which grief is often present but unacknowledged in our working life. I’ve mentioned the unexamined costs of pursuing an academic career, as well as a too common lack of compassion for other life losses such as bereavement, and I have also discussed the…
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The Grief of Disappointment
In my previous two posts I introduced the importance of fully processing grief and loss, the time that takes, and the consequences of not taking or not being given sufficient space to grieve. In this post I want to look at a very specific and frequently overlooked manifestation of grief. Often referred to as a…
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Grief and the brain
In my last post I introduced the theme of grief in academia, a pervasive experience that remains largely unacknowledged but which has profound effects on our ability to process, plan, and move forward. In this post, I am going to take a closer look at why grief affects us so acutely, specifically the brain fog…
Beatha Coaching 