In with the New

I'm officially a Doctor (of psychology)! Daniel and I at my graduation before Christmas

Happy 2011, everyone!  I hope you’re all fully recovered from New Year’s Eve and preparing to get back to the Grind.  I can never figure out how I feel after the holidays (in addition to slug-like and bloated)—relieved?  Sad?  Excited about a fresh start?  Some combination this time, but I’m mostly looking forward to getting things going.

Since it’s the start of a new semester, I thought I’d say a bit about some changes to the blog and why I’ve picked these class topics to complete.

In addition to updating the look of my blog a bit (like adding Google Friend Connect), I’ve made a few other changes to the content of the courses.  Last semester, I set my expectations a bit unrealistically high, so when making the syllabi for these courses, I’m making the goals more attainable.  Similarly, I’ve scaled back the reading lists and number of assignments.

Another thing I’d like to do differently is to invite readers to participate in course “exams” with me, so I’m going to announce them in advance so people can join if they’d like.

Last change: I’ll be posting three times a week—once for each course—so nothing gets short shrift.  Expect future posts from me on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.

So on to why I’ve picked these courses.

Healthy Living 102: Anyone who was reading last semester knows that I met a lot of my food and exercise goals.  There were some I couldn’t quite attain—like running a 5K this Spring—so this course is a continuation of those goals.  I’m going to read more about the industrial food system, keep working on my overall health, and keep cooking, but I’m also adding in a reading about body image (one of my ongoing personal challenges).

Financial Principles 101: Like most people in America, my husband and I have way more debt than savings.  We’re pretty clueless about things like investments and taxes.  Funny how we’ve had a huge bump in income lately (relative to being Ramen-eating graduate students), and have also managed to bump up our pointless spending accordingly.  It’s also funny how I think of other domains in my life in terms of goals, yet seem to think that the Magical Money Fairy will appear and rain benjamins down upon us so that we can take a summer vacation.  Planning is obviously needed.  This course is designed to help us set and work towards some long-term financial goals, and also to think more about living simply.

Spiritual and Existential Studies 101: Fortunately, I’m way past the black-turtleneck-and-black-coffee  part of my life—you know, the time when I sat around chain-smoking and having lots of Deep Conversations to help me figure out what I believed about God and the Universe and why (also known as actual college).  That’s not what this course is about.  It’s about re-connecting with the my most mindful and centered self, and about making time for contemplation and reflection. For example, I’m looking to re-establish a regular meditation habit.  Hopefully I’ll meet more like-minded people in this area along the way too.

So that’s all for now–feel free to peruse my course syllabi and give me feedback.  Have a good first week of 2011!