Joanne Tombrakos

It’s Okay To Be Uncomfortable

No one wants to feel uncomfortable anymore. I get it. I am not particularly fond of feeling uncomfortable either. It’s an uneasy feeling, awkward, tense, anxiety-producing. It’s – well – uncomfortable. But that’s okay. We need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. In fact, being uncomfortable can be a good thing. As a kid, I […]

A Fast Car, A Vivid Memory And No Picture To Prove It Happened

It’s been a week and I still can’t get the song out of my head. The lyrics are on replay whenever I’ve had a few moments to just be – whether it’s waiting on the platform for the subway or stepping out of the shower in the morning. Fast Car. Tracy Chapman’s distinctive voice. The kind of […]

I wrote a book. Now I have to sell it.

I wrote a book. There. I said it. I wrote a book. Even now that it’s published and out in the world it still feels surreal. It’s not the first time I wrote a book, so perhaps digesting my accomplishment should be easier but that is not what I am finding. Instead what keeps going through my […]

And so it begins…my first Substack

I have a habit. I am not sure exactly when I started it but if I had to guess it was sometime after I started teaching. When I am done explaining something, I will finish my statement with this question. Does this make sense? It doesn’t just happen when I’m teaching. I have caught myself doing […]

Advice On What To Do If (Or When) You Get Fired From Someone Who’s Been There

Laid off. Downsized out of your job. Fired. Call it what you like, it’s all the same thing. One day you have a job and a paycheck to go with it and the next day the alarm goes off at 6 AM and you have nowhere to go. I’ve been there. More than once. The […]