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My typical morning goes like this. On weekdays, I wake up early before everyone else and prepare lunches for my 3 kids, and then their breakfast. When everyone gets up I help them all get ready and out of the door and do school drop-off. If there’s enough time left I work out. I actually try to do this at 5 am, so that in my mind I have time to work (all those scientific papers I want to write) but, more often than not, I’m unsuccessful at getting up at this time. If I did do my workout at 5 am, I would probably use the gained hour on chores anyway. I then go to work. Currently that means teaching statistics to a bunch of unmotivated undergrads (2 or 3 exceptions). After work come school pick-ups, cooking and eating lunch. The afternoons are filled with sports and homework, followed by dinner, evening rituals and getting the kids to bed. Nobody falls asleep alone, so after nursing my daughter to sleep I stay with the boys until they’re asleep as well. By then it’s probably around 9 pm. I take a shower and get everything prepared for everyone for the next day. And then I probably collapse. Sometimes, when I really have to, I’ll do some work. Or sometimes, when the kids sleep early by a miracle, my husband and I watch some Netflix. The next day it repeats.

I’m not writing this to bore you with the details of my day, but because I’m pretty sure you’re just as busy. When you read my story, you probably think something like “wow, she’s busy (and so am I…)”. And as an outsider you probably don’t think I should be doing more. But my brain thinks differently. In my mind I constantly berate myself for not doing more: “I should be writing more publications, I should be playing more with my kids, I should have a less messy house, I should write more blogs, I should finally get this business started, I should be doing more exercise, yoga, running, meditation, I should read more books, etc….” You get it. Given my typical day, it is extremely unrealistic to expect I would have time for any of these things. But I believe I should nonetheless, and it’s almost impossible to shut up this inner critic.

I’m not the exception. Working in academia or scientific research naturally means a busy life. Throw in caretaking responsibilities – or just living a rich life with multiple goals and ambitions – and you’ll find yourself constantly trying to juggle all these different roles without burning out. You want to do it all, and you feel guilty for not being able to. You even feel guilty for not doing things that are not even part of your current role, but you feel you should be doing. Or you would like to be doing. You tell yourself that if you just found the right productivity system, you’d get more done. But the truth is, no system creates more hours in the day. Maybe now I’m being presumptuous speaking for you. This is my case. But if you’re still reading this, I bet that you feel similar.

I feel there should be a better way of doing things, one that brings the joy and purpose back to being a scientist. The reason why Soulful(-ish) Science pulled on me is that this is what I strive to be, a Soulful Scientist. Combining facts with feeling. Balancing work and life. Finding a true reason to be a scientist, to do science, to give my work meaning beyond just recognition at the workplace, publications, favorable student evaluations, etc. I’m not denying that those are gratifying and fulfilling. But I feel there needs to be more to keep going. For me, soulful science means letting my values guide which projects I say yes to, and bringing creativity and connection into my teaching. I want to align my work with who I am and integrate it into my general life so that everything flows, and I can balance my different roles as a scientist, mother, wife, daughter, friend, athlete, traveler, writer, woman. And any other role that I may wish to try out.

This is why I created the Soulful Science Hub. It’s really a personal search for balance and purpose. Life will always be busy. But if the busyness aligns with our true values, it may feel less stressful. I created this space to offer a place for everyone in the same situation, resonating with this idea, and looking to align work and life based on core values and purpose.

So what is Soulful(-ish) Science? When searching for names for what I wanted to do here, it was a name that was drawn to from the beginning. I love the alliteration, but also the word Soulful. I can’t say the word soulful is something that describes me on first glance. I doubt my friends or family would call me very spiritual. Although I do lean towards spirituality, it’s not something I openly or actively practice. I’m also not very consistent with practices such as meditation or others that would fall under soulful. I actually think that many would describe me as a true left-brainer, using reason and logic to solve everything. But I strongly believe in balance. And in combining science and purpose. And that purpose, I do believe, must come from something deeper than just pure logic and reason. Call it spirituality, or the soul, if you will.

I invite you to join me on this journey. Let’s explore together what it means to be a soulful(-ish) scientist. Most of all, I hope you’ll find encouragement here that you don’t have to do it all to be a real scientist. If this speaks to you, I’d love to connect. Follow my Blog, subscribe to my upcoming newsletter, or send me a message with your personal story.