Last month, I attended a weeklong yoga retreat in Costa Rica, my first vacation since fall 2023. The retreat was led by my friend Raquel Wright-Mair, who in addition to researching belongingness in higher education is also a yoga instructor. I admire Raquel for always showing up as her full self wherever she goes, having intertwined her faculty and yogi identities. Modeling a “both/and” (rather than “either/or”) when it comes to wellbeing and work life, she takes a scholarly approach to teaching yoga and brings yoga’s mindfulness to her academic engagements. Seeing her in action reminds me of how our personal pursuits and passions can animate our workday and keep us aligned with our core values.
At the start of the retreat, Raquel asked participants, “What do you have to let go of in order to receive abundance?” I found this question to be very powerful, in part because it had me thinking about how we approach problem-solving, whether in our personal lives or in academia: Our first instinct is often to come up with new ideas or fixes. We might launch an ambitious plan that requires investing in a new gadget, app, or subscription; holding ourselves to even higher standards; and nobly assigning ourselves more tasks and “shoulds.”
While such approaches may be well-intentioned, they can introduce additional challenges. For example, new ideas and commitments often mean extra work—and most of us are already stretched thin. What’s worse, if we don’t fully understand the root of the problem, we might end up “solving” the wrong thing. Or the fix that we are enthusiastically launching doesn’t work for anyone else, making it even harder to build partnerships in problem solving. The reality is that sometimes forward progress requires that we stop doing something, rather than add to our plates.
As we enter the home stretch of another academic year, I encourage you to find ways of preserving your energy and focus. There are a million things vying for our attention at the moment, and many of them feel so far out of our control. Finding balance right now may mean asking yourself, “Where can I pull back? What can I do less of? What can I release?” And are there places in your personal life where you feel abundance and find meaning and connection? If so, perhaps there are ways you can bring some of those elements into your professional life so that you can make it to the finish line.
Short of running away to your own tropical retreat, consider creating a small daily ritual to check in with yourself and refocus a racing mind that is pressuring you to meet impossible standards at a stressful time. Perhaps that means even just a few quiet minutes to ask, “What can I release? What can bring me energy today?” This simple pause can help you reconnect with what matters most and remind you that abundance doesn’t always come from doing more. Sometimes, it comes from being more—more present and more aligned, bringing your whole self and feeling rooted in your values so that you embody them in all aspects of your life.
Sincerely,
Magdalena L. Barrera
Vice Provost for Faculty Success
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