Liz Norell at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. March 2022.

In her brilliant book, I Didn’t Do the Thing Today, Madeline Dore writes: “We live in this day, after all, not in the one we’re waiting for.” My goal in all my work — I’m a college teacher, a coach, and a yogi — is to fully live in each day, grateful that it exists and open to what opportunities it might bring.

I blog occasionally about all of those things (and more). #AcademicTwitter and politics fill up my Twitter feed. I’m also working on a manuscript draft about teaching; that writing process has filled my pandemic life with purpose and challenge and joy in ways that have been equal parts therapy and catharsis. It’s under advance contract with West Virginia University Press‘s Teaching & Learning in Higher Ed series, edited by James Lang, Michelle Miller, and Derek Krissoff.

When the inspiration strikes, I’ll put out an episode of my podcast, the Liz Cast — but with the writing project, I haven’t done that in a while.

The values that infuse my work spring from the realization that each of us, as decidedly social beings, yearn for connections…

… we want to find true friends, the kind who always seem to know what matters most, even when we don’t talk to them for months (or years) at a time.

… we want work that feels meaningful, done in service to / in collaboration with people who we admire.

… we want to make a difference, for this world to be changed for the better because we were here.

And, here’s the kicker: So many of us are scrambling to find these connections by go-go-going A-L-L the time, even though we know true connection takes time to nurture and expand.

I’m here to offer an open heart and a willing ear. What are you searching for? How can we find it, together?

Get in touch if this lands with you — maybe because you want to talk about a teaching collaboration, a workshop, a podcast chat, some coaching, or a unique yoga class. I’m not doing any of those things to excess right now, but I am always eager to explore innovative ways to create community, especially for women … and especially-especially for women in academia.