I got my first job as a gymnastics coach when I was 15 and I went on to coach in four different gyms and 4 different states between the ages of 17-23. As the years went on I worked with gymnasts who trained for more hours and higher level skills.

For some time I have been borrowing a metaphor I learned from Dr. Jenna LeJeune, a psychologist and an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She’s specifically an expert in finding out what really matters to people (a.k.a, values).

We tend to neglect the importance of context on our success & failures in goal attainment. We are trained and socialized to think "If I individually approach a task or goal in the optimal way, I will succeed. And if I don't...well, that's my problem." I think the counter to that idea is if we are successful, we often don't give our context or environment the credit for our success.

I’ve been thinking about professionalism a lot recently, especially its relationship with women’s reproduction and childcare.  I was going to write about it today but then we realized our daycare for our children is closed the day after New Years for professional development of the teachers.