"My life as a dancologist," not "My life as a psychologancer"...

I get so confused when people start by asking me about how school is going, and then, "Oh, yeah, by the way, are you still dancing?"

"Umm, yes???" Sometimes I want to respond with, "Do you know me at all!?!?!"Instead, I quietly think to myself, "SERENITY NOW!" and I reply, "Yes! A lot, actually!"

If you get it, you get it. But for those that don't, how do I begin to explain? To most of the people in my life, my (almost) PhD sounds so much more impressive than the fact that I am a dancer. The truth is, dancers work so hard for something that is not tangible. We don't walk away with a fancy degree. We don't walk away with tons of money. We don't walk away with a big promotion. We walk away with something that is impossible to explain to anyone who doesn't already get it. We will spend an entire year working on a product that comes and goes in about 2 hours on a stage. If you missed the performance, you missed it, and it is gone. You can hang a Ph.D. on your wall for a lifetime.

It took me 10 weeks to write my prelims...

It took me 20 years to get my legs to look like that...

Dancing has been infinitely more challenging than getting my Ph.D. Don't get me wrong, I love both aspects of my life, and they are both important to me, but working toward being a dancer makes working toward my doctorate seem so much easier. This is not to say that graduate school isn't challenging, or that being a dancer is harder than being a psychologist, but for me, my dancing puts my work toward my doctorate in perspective. Maybe I am on to something here. If you ever want to accomplish something challenging, just take on something that is even more challenging for you to put it in perspective. Maybe for you, psychology would be more challenging than dancing, or parenting would be more challenging than getting ahead at work, and the possibilities go on and on. Don't get me wrong, I will still be hanging my PhD on my wall, but they don't make a piece of paper for every type of accomplishment in life.

Just in case you are currently worrying about all those times you've asked me, "Are you still dancing?" after you've asked me how school is going...don't. I appreciate your support, whether you get it or not. On the other hand, if you don't get my Seinfeld references, then I'm sorry, but we can't be friends...