There are two sides to my confidence. One comes from my knowledge, my experience, and the results I help my students achieve. The other comes from how I feel in my own body. For me, education and well-being are inextricably linked. When one slips, the other feels harder.

At the end of 2021, I was at my heaviest. Grief, lockdown, and the busyness of work had left movement at the bottom of my list. One December day, I decided enough was enough. I wanted to take my life back. By the end of 2022, I had lost 98 pounds. Beyond the numbers, I had gained energy, endurance, and the freedom to walk into a room feeling completely myself.

But life isn’t a straight line. In 2023 and 2024, movement started to fall away again. I was deep into my first year of a PhD, overwhelmed, and just surviving each day. By the summer of 2025, I found myself almo ...