Promotion & Tenure Tips: Overcoming barriers

Well, hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We’re on the cusp of a new season, and the moment in the semester when all of our best-laid plans typically start to go awry and succumb to the chaos of life. And that’s quite alright. We only have three months left in the year, so let’s dive headfirst into this new season and start making the changes that we want to see in 2025 right now.

PROMOTION & TENURE TIPS

A Season of Change

If you have read any of the September editions of the P&T Tips, you know how much I absolutely love the fall season – the changes in the weather, food choices, adult beverages, and the colors of the leaves. But with these enjoyable changes (for me), I struggle (as I am sure many of you do as well) with the changes that occur in my professional and personal life. It is difficult enough when you know the change is on the horizon, but when you are blindsided, it can literally take you out (mentally and emotionally).

It is not lost on me that many of you are looking down the barrel of serious professional changes – especially as it relates to the results of P&T decisions or simply just being flat-out fed up with the organization in which you work. So, how do we navigate these changes while keeping ourselves whole? Because regardless of wonderful words and phrases like “it’s going to be ok” or “you are going to be stronger once this is over,” nothing really speaks to your feelings about the change itself. Trust me, I get it.

Here are a few helpful tips to move your feelings from the anxiety during your season of change. And so that we are very clear, I have also had to practice these.

1. Take the necessary time to own your feelings. As a wise person told me, “It’s ok to push through it. It’s okay to sit with it. It’s ok to lean into it.”
2. Self-Reflection. Once you get to a place where you can reflect without being totally upset, ask yourself, What am I supposed to learn from this experience?
3. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is probably the hardest part of being a human. We like comfort, hence why we indulge in comforting acts. But in this season of change, embrace being uncomfortable, instead of trying to reset. Stay in the space for a while, then repeat #2.
4. Celebrate you. A wise woman in her late 20’s reminded me that regardless of what the change is, the uncomfortableness of it all, and every feeling I was experiencing, I had to celebrate myself every day, regardless.

So, as we embark on our individual seasons of change, remember that change takes place when it is actually time for us to grow. It can be a slight nudge or a literal kick out of the nest. Change is a good thing, it is just hard going through it. But the other side can in fact be better, we just have to allow ourselves to embrace being uncomfortable during the season. That being said, get a hat, jacket, etc., and weather the season change.

“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things
that make you, you.” – Beyoncé Knowles