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One of the small things that I knew I’d miss when we moved from Norfolk, CT, in May 2023, was the lilacs I walked by every day on my way to work at the library.

Lilacs are my favorite flower fragrance, and purple is one of my favorite colors. Stopping to smell the lilacs was one of my favorite sensory experiences, taking just a few moments of my time yet filling me with joy.

I also knew I’d miss the half-mile commute to my job because I could walk it in less than 10 minutes. I loved walking, and then I’d be at the library!

Sometimes, it still amazes me that I was a librarian. I couldn’t even say that was a dream job. In the realm of possibility, it seemed impossible, given that I don’t have an MLS.

And now that I’m a professor again, I’m once again amazed. I swore to myself that I would NEVER return to teaching. I was done with academia. It wasn’t a good fit for me.

Except, I never really left teaching. At the library, I started an online media discussion group at the beginning of the pandemic. We read books such as The Now Habit, watched the Top 10 Ted Talks You Need to Know, and listened to psychology-themed episodes from podcasts such as Hidden Brain, The Happiness Lab, and Gretchen Rubin. We’re now five years in and still continuing on.

I also developed and led a Books & Boots program where we would read a book and then walk in the woods to discuss it. It makes me so happy that this program is still going strong today.

Then there were the in-person workshops that I led, on topics such as The Psychology of Stuff: Why We Have So Much and What We Can Do About It and Spring Cleaning Hacks: How to Get Started When You Don’t Want To.

And, of course,  there was my other part-time job at the Congregational Church as the Director of Community and Creativity. I led multi-week discussions on Great Courses such as the History of the Bible and World Religions. Not to mention, I gave a few sermons that were some of the best public speaking moments of my life!

In hindsight, it shouldn’t amaze me at all that the job I ended up in again was teaching. It’s so clearly a part of who I am – I just wasn’t in the right teaching job the first time around.

And I still had some growing to do because the person I was when I quit teaching in 2016 is not the person I am now.

That person was limited in creativity and imagination. She didn’t KNOW who she was, and she felt more than a little lost in this great big world.

That time off allowed me to gain clarity on who I was and what I wanted.

I never once regretted that I quit my tenured associate professor position in 2016.

But those lilacs I would be leaving behind on my daily walk-commute, I would regret leaving them because of how much happiness they brought me.

Except…

There are lilacs on my walk across campus to the psychology and neuroscience building!

A walk that I take after I ride a bus. A bus ride in which I read a book or answer emails, or stare out the window in wonder that I now live amidst the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, on the way to a teaching job that brings me a lot of meaning and purpose.

All to say that I still walk to work and my commute isn’t awful! In fact, it’s mostly enjoyable.

So, you better believe I stop to smell those lilacs.

Because not only are they one of my favorite sensory experiences, but they also remind me that you don’t know what the future has in store for you. What you worry about may never come true. And what happens may be better than you ever imagined.

Enjoy these last weeks of spring, my friends.