"First Tuesday" Edition

Good morning, Student Affairs Roadrunners!

There’s a song by Dolly Parton that encapsulates my feelings about the first day of any new academic term:

“Here you come again

Just when I've begun to get myself together

You waltz right in the door, just like you've done before

And wrap my heart 'round your little finger”

And that’s how it feels, right?? We’ve spent a couple of weeks catching up, cleaning up, and maybe trying to get ahead of numerous projects so we can feel proactive rather than reactive.? And our negative human brains watch the calendar with dread thinking of long lines, packed parking lots, and crowded coffee shops.? But, then we arrive on campus, and we greet students excited for their first day, and we remember the excitement of our seasonal “starting over.”? Today is a day that dreams are activated for thousands of Roadrunners, when they will take the next greatest step toward their destinies and meeting their goals head-on.?

And I wish I could be with you.?

Most of you know that I took a tumble skiing in early January and broke my shoulder (well, left scapula to be exact).? While the injury is relatively minor – it won’t require surgery or even immobilization – the recovery is dreadful.? ?For the last week and a few more days this week, I’m restricted from driving and will be working virtually while managing pain and soreness.? I’ll miss the awesome Welcome Week activities and seeing all y’all for these fun first days.

So, here’s the story.? I was skiing with friends and took a relatively easy green run that I’ve done dozens of times.? What I didn’t realize was that the snow wasn’t deep enough to cover all of the terrain’s features and, with so few skiers in the season, it had created some “interesting” challenges for skiers.? I came down the run and hit a few up-down-up-down rolling hills and picked up speed.? I was feeling confident.? And then I saw them – small moguls where no mogul had been before.? I tried to practice what the instructors had taught me about slowing down – cutting in wide arcs and leaning down – but I couldn’t drop the speed fast enough.? Next thing I know, I’m soaring through the air and landing with a thud on an ice sheet on my shoulder.? ?While my mind could register how to slow down, in the height of the moment, it forgot the lessons I’d been taught on how to fall.? In skiing this concept is so basic, they teach it to you in the very first lesson right after you put your boots on.

In a 2023 commencement address to Harvard University, Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh said, “Learning how to fall teaches you how to land. And learning to land gives you the courage to jump higher.”? Falling and landing are two separate notions, both requiring skill.? You mean, we aren’t cats who can fall in any starting position and always land on their feet by instinct and design?? Nope.? ??

For our work, I think that “falling” equates to “failing and “landing” equates to “managing the failure.”? This raises some interesting questions for me:

• What would it feel like, look like, sound like if we could regognize failing – aka falling – while it is progress? What are the signs that our intended outcomes are now unintended consequences?
• If we could ever descibe the bullet point above, how could we teach it to others?? In our “first lesson” – aka grad school or onboarding – these seminal lessons might be the most helpful.
• And if we can recognize that we’re falling, what would we do differently to land (without injury) and learn from the entire process?
• Finally, if we understand that, like any highly skill-based activity, this is a learning process, how could we carve out the time to intentionally make meaning of these experiences.? We need to go from “Thank U, Next” to “Yes, And” in a meaningful way.? (also, IFYKYK)

So that’s my wish for all of us this new term – that we allow ourselves to feel the joy of new beginnings, normalize falling, and all be more focused on the process, not just dusting ourselves off and doing it again.

Stay warm.? Stay focused.? Stay fabulous!

Will