PhD or Not PhD

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

 This semester, I'm teaching positive psychology (I might have mentioned that once or ten times before), and a lot of my reading and even leisure time activity has reflected this focus. This isn't surprising because prep for an unfamiliar or infrequently taught class often means digging into new resources.

Last week, I stumbled across a resource from an unexpected source. I was attempting to jettison junk emails from my inbox when I came across one from Coursera. I've taken some online courses through them before, so when they send me an email, I typically do a quick scan of the contents and then delete it. 

This time, though, one of the courses caught my eye: Mindfulness and Well-Being, a topic that aligns perfectly with positive psychology.

I clicked on the link, and discovered that it was being taught by an instructor from Rice University and that it was part of a three course certificate program in -- you guessed it -- mindfulness and well-being. 

Hmm.

I logged back into my account and signed up for the one week free trial, with a tentative goal of taking the three-courses necessary for certification. So far, I'm familiar with a lot of the material, which has enabled me to work ahead, and I'm enjoying the practices and the additional resources.

Decades ago, when I started college, I anticipated earning a PhD in psychology. But, along the way, I found other interesting paths -- a lot of them -- and I was reluctant to turn away from them to travel the straight and narrow necessary to earn those three little letters. A few years ago, I came to terms with the decision to declare my education complete without an additional degree.

But every once in a while, that old goal pokes at me, daring me to proclaim myself enough without that additional degree. Fortunately, there are other ways to engage my love of learning, ways that are less time-consuming and expensive, and that afford me the freedom -- and time and money -- to explore a wider variety of topics. Even better, the topics are ones that I've selected, rather than a pre-determined set of courses leading to a pre-determined destination.

In my less confident moments, I fall prey to the notion that I'll end up a jack of all trades and a master of none. And then I remember that I don't want to take statistics again, or run a research study. I'd much rather read about those studies and use the time I've saved to write a blog post.

Or a book.

Life presents so many choices, and it's sometimes hard to know which ones are the right ones. But when I look back on my life so far, I think I've chosen pretty well. I have a family I love, a job I enjoy, and the freedom to engage in whatever pursuits come my way. 

Or not.

The thing about choosing is that we can always choose to change our minds and, if we keep our eyes open, we'll always have more opportunities than we can ever pursue.

And that's a pretty good predicament to be in.