Eighteen years ago today, I made it through one of the most challenging parts of my life.
Have you ever been in a situation where the odds felt stacked against you, and the only way out was through?
For me, it was during my Ph.D. dissertation. It wasn’t just the grueling 10 years of study, the endless rewrites, or my advisor’s insistence that I work 10 times harder than everyone else because I was a woman and Canadian. It was all of that... plus writing my qualifying exams while eight months pregnant.
And then, mid-qualifying exams, my water broke.
I’ll never forget calling my advisor from the car on the way to the hospital to tell her I couldn’t finish the exam.
I called myself the dragon slayer.
Every rewrite, every qualifying exam, every obstacle became part of the journey to that final milestone: successfully defending my dissertation.
My research explored how consumer capitalist culture shapes our ideas, values, and beliefs, embedding itself so deeply in society that it becomes invisible, accepted as “normal” or “common sense.”
This invisible influence is something that I still weave it into my yoga teachings. Over the next couple of months in our membership community, we’ll be exploring this question: Who profits from our insecurities?
Today, I celebrate the day I became a dragon slayer, the day I successfully defended my dissertation.
What about you? What’s a major milestone in your life that you like to recognize each year?
Let me know in the comments and let's celebrate those victories together. 💬
Yoga with Melissa
Eighteen years ago today, I made it through one of the most challenging parts of my life.
Have you ever been in a situation where the odds felt stacked against you, and the only way out was through?
For me, it was during my Ph.D. dissertation. It wasn’t just the grueling 10 years of study, the endless rewrites, or my advisor’s insistence that I work 10 times harder than everyone else because I was a woman and Canadian. It was all of that... plus writing my qualifying exams while eight months pregnant.
And then, mid-qualifying exams, my water broke.
I’ll never forget calling my advisor from the car on the way to the hospital to tell her I couldn’t finish the exam.
I called myself the dragon slayer.
Every rewrite, every qualifying exam, every obstacle became part of the journey to that final milestone: successfully defending my dissertation.
My research explored how consumer capitalist culture shapes our ideas, values, and beliefs, embedding itself so deeply in society that it becomes invisible, accepted as “normal” or “common sense.”
This invisible influence is something that I still weave it into my yoga teachings. Over the next couple of months in our membership community, we’ll be exploring this question: Who profits from our insecurities?
Today, I celebrate the day I became a dragon slayer, the day I successfully defended my dissertation.
What about you? What’s a major milestone in your life that you like to recognize each year?
Let me know in the comments and let's celebrate those victories together. 💬
4 months ago | [YT] | 132