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My friend Jeff collapsed onto a table in the Marriott Library from a stroke. He was taken away in an ambulance to the hospital. He was in his early 30s. I was supposed to meet Jeff that day in the library to study for comps but I canceled on him at the last minute. At…

After my friend John spent fifteen minutes complaining about his current situation to our professor Len Hawes, Len leaned forward and looked him deep in the eyes. (When I took a class from him, Len liked to say he was “hugging you with his eyes.”) Len eyeball hugged John and then slowly asked, “John, what…

As we were drifting off into savasana, our yoga teacher Scott said, “Can you get 20% more relaxed right now?” More relaxed? Seriously? You’d think that an hour of vinyasas and chair poses and arm balances followed by an invitation to act like a corpse would fully relax someone, right? But no, I wasn’t totally…

Desmond went screaming and running between his mom and dad in my backyard – screaming and running with his hands up in the air and the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. I learned to crawl and then walk and now I can run! I am doing this! I can feel the wind in my hair!…

One of my colleagues saw me at a party halfway through my year-long dissertation fellowship and said: “It must be nice to only have to write for a year.” The comment hit me like a kick in the UFC ring. Why did it hurt? I had won the fellowship. It was a prize. All I…

The teacher dude shouted: “Control your edge!” The gear was restricting. I was strapped to a stupid slippery board. Control my edge?? What the hell did that mean? I could not control anything. I flew down the hill taking out toddlers. At the time, I was an Assistant Media Planner living in San Francisco, and…

This week, as I pressed the PUBLISH button on my online course content and hit SEND on the emails to over a hundred students, I felt a familiar squeeze of anxiety: Well, here we go. I hope all the dates are right. I hope I didn’t forget something. I hope the links work. I hope…

I’ve been told that I am corny. It’s true, and I am also extraordinarily serious. I’ve been told that I am happy. It’s true, and I also sob in despair. I’ve been told I’m slow. It’s true, and I also move at lightning speed. I’ve been told I’m cold. It’s true, and I am also…

My friend looked at me with gorgeous blue tear filled eyes and said, “I’m a mess. One day I’ll get my shit together.” It was like I was looking into a mirror. I have felt the same way. I have literally said the same words. I replied, “You have your shit together in so many…

Abi and I were knee deep in scrub brush and wildflowers on a Brighton ski slope, contemplating crossing a group of fallen dead trees. They were blackened and sharp, pointing up in jagged warning. Hmmm, that doesn’t look easy. We had just clambered over a bunch of rocks and the steep pitch was making it…