The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. ~Benjamin Franklin
Ever hear a little voice in your head wondering when the extraordinary life you imagined for yourself is going to arrive? Are you confused by feelings of restlessness or dissatisfaction, even though from the outside you appear to “have it all”?
I used to feel the same way. A scientist by training and an optimist at heart, I provide useful and uplifting advice to transform your life. I’ll show you how I broke with convention to get a life I love and more importantly, I’ll help you light your own path to personal and professional fulfillment.
I’ve come to believe happiness is not a grandiose idea you live by or for, but a series of small, daily decisions. Let’s do this together.
You would be Dr. Gresham, I presume?
My name is Jennifer Gresham and my Myers-Briggs personality type is INTJ. I grew up on five acres of pine and saw palmetto in one of the few rural areas of Tampa, Florida. I am a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, where I was nick-named Cadet Happy Camper. I am the odd combination of PhD biochemist and award-winning poet.
Years later I returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor, where every single student is required to take a full year of chemistry. Based on informal surveys, I can tell you not everyone was as riveted by the periodic table or Le Chatelier’s principle as I was. I would explain, “Science is life, and life is science: you can’t be interested in one and not the other.”
This is somewhat ironic given I struggled to choose between a chemistry and English major in college myself, and now, 20 years later, I am leaving my scientific career to become a full-time writer, public speaker and consultant. Or maybe it makes perfect sense. I love science for the illumination it provides on the world around us. I also understand that life is a series of experiments in which we are (or should be) enormously invested in the outcome. I am thankful I spent time learning how to analyze and interpret results.
Another benefit of teaching was that my office was catty-corner to the man who would later become my husband. We like to tell people we “just had that chemistry.” We currently live in Montgomery, Alabama with our daughter Ingrid, and two cats, Pico and Starbuck.
What do you mean by happiness?
There’s a big difference between being happy and living a happy life. Drinking tea and snuggling cats (preferably simultaneously) happen to give me a huge mood boost, but they’re not, all by themselves, enough to make me feel sustained and fulfilled. That doesn’t mean the two are disconnected though. I personally subscribe to the three-pronged definition of happiness posited by Jennifer Michael Hecht in The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong
- A good day: forgettable mild pleasures and rewarding efforts
- Euphoria: intense and memorable happiness
- A happy life: requires a lot of difficult work (studying, striving, nurturing, mourning, etc)
In my experience, most people tend to focus on the first two aspects of happiness. The problem is that kind of happiness is also short-lived. The truth is, sustaining a happy life requires introspection, challenge, and community. The idea these things come easy sets up some pretty unrealistic expectations.
What often derails us from achieving our goals is not that we tried for something out of reach, but our expectations of ease exceeded our persistence. Whether we’re talking about personal or professional happiness a happy life requires hard work. And I’m here to help. Welcome!
