Dr. Arrastía-Chisholm: Professor Mom

Now that we are into the third month of the year, I wanted to check in with some of my goals. Today is the last day before the final Team Lean weigh in and cholesterol screening so I must be on my best behavior. Team Lean is an 8-week team-based weight loss challenge hosted by my local YMCA. In addition to weekly weigh-ins they tried to make it fun by hosting events and nutrition talks for extra weight loss percentage points. One of the events was an obstacle 5k trail run that involved a lot of mud. Never before had I scaled a wall of made of tires or run through the woods carrying a bucket of sand, let alone struggle through a mud pit. Here is a picture from the 2019 Red Bug Run: In addition to this 5k, I ran the Swamp Forest quarter marathon, the Chehaw 10-miler, the Tallahassee half marathon, and the Flatlanders 10k at Providence Canyon. Running these events was fun, but the most fun I had was probably biking 30 miles of red clay roads through North Florida and South Georgia wi...

It's only the second week of classes and students are asking for make-up work, to take exams early, and to excuse absences. I have also met with a number of students this week to discuss serious life decisions, dropping classes, and even managing serious mental health issues. On top of all this, my daughter has been waking up several times in the middle of the night so my husband and I have been taking turns comforting her. So much happening! In other words, thank goodness it's Friday! It's never too early to discuss preventing burnout . How do you destress? How do you take steps to prevent burnout at work or home? One suggestion in this  article  is to take time off . I teach five days a week this semester so taking a whole day off isn't really an option. Instead, I got away between office hours this week to take a two-mile run during some mild weather. Below is a photo from the Azalea Trail that runs through the Valdosta State University campus. When I was applying ...

This week is the last week before the spring semester begins at Valdosta State University (VSU). Before the whirlwind of classes and advising begins, I wanted to first inform readers about the motivation for this blog and to update you on my goals  so far... Motivation.  Although she may not know this, Kathe Lowney, has been one of my mentors during my time as an assistant professor. She is the catalyst that initially encouraged me to write this blog. We are both writing a post a week for 52 weeks. Find her blog about teaching here . Although Kathe is now retired, she is still affecting my professional and personal development! Thanks, Kathe! Health. The team-based weight loss program I have joined officially started this week. It was unfortunate timing because did my first weigh in right after running 7 miles in a race... Here is a photo of me taken by Herb Wills, a Tallahassee running legend now photographer and blogger . It was towards the end and I was straight up walk...