Psych Yourself Up with Eileen Walker, PhD
Hello and welcome!
Who am I?
I am Eileen Walker, PhD. I am a psychologist, professor, and writer. I’ve been a writer since I was a child, but I’ve just embarked on the journey to published author.
For me, taking the first step to writing and publishing my work has led to new and unexpected paths - one of which is the affirming opportunity to share my research and thoughts and experiences throughout the often overwhelming professional writer adventure.
The learning is fascinating. The writing is both surprisingly fun and incredibly difficult. The connecting with friends, family, students, and new communities during this venture has been an unanticipated bonus that has led to this dive into Substack, newsletters, and Instagram - a plunge I resisted, but one that is adding some much-appreciated me-time to my weeks.
Why this book?
The goals of my book are to offer an original framework that will guide your understanding of your emotional coping patterns and to shed light on psychology- backed research and strategies that will empower you to nurture a life of self-acceptance, resilience, contentment, and joy.
My book will dive deep into research across several fields of psychology. I am fascinated by discoveries in organizational, clinical, cognitive, developmental, behavioral, neuro, social, and health psychology. And, every day I am surprised anew by the ways many “of course” psychology concepts and conclusions are apparent in my life. I believe that many of the self-help recommendations you might strive to apply in your own life can be more valuable and actionable if you understand the how’s and why’s of them.
My intention is to bridge the space between pop-culture self-help lists of things you “should” do to be happier, wiser, better and the body of dense, academic writings that can be both illuminating and intimidating.
The book’s lessons will be informative, accessible, and actionable.
Why am I here?
I just wanted to write. I just wanted to share my knowledge and offer support and inspiration. And then I realized I don’t have to wait until my book is published.
And, I don’t have to limit myself to the topics I’ll explore in the book.
I can extend encouragement, education, and empowerment starting right now - so that’s why I’m here, and that’s what you’ll find.
I enjoy teaching. It’s what I’ve done for decades, essentially my entire adult life. But virtually all of that has come with some (or lots of) institutionally-determined topics and approaches. And, it’s come with requirements to grade student work, my least favorite part of the role. I much prefer sharing my knowledge and exchanging ideas with my truly remarkable students than navigating the challenges created by my power to evaluate their work.
There’s so much we have to do in our lives. What a gift to be able to prioritize some time to do what we want to do - what we enjoy doing.
So, I’m giving myself this gift of self-expression, creativity, and grading-free teaching. No criteria, no must-attain learning objectives, no power-differential barriers…just the chance to pass on some knowledge and, perhaps a bit of hard-earned wisdom, too. And, wow, for me the greatest reward of all - the possibility of encouraging and empowering you to gift yourself with deeper and more compassionate self-understanding and a powered-up capacity to create and support meaningful change in your life.
And, in the process, I believe we can build, together, a community of mutual support, acceptance, curiosity, confidence, and optimism.
What can you expect?
I’m infant-new to this, so anticipate that some things will change, but my plan is to write a newsletter each weekend, to be released on Mondays.
The newsletter will Encourage, Educate, and Empower by:
Sharing personal experiences, reflections, and aha’s to illustrate the lifelong journey of discovery we’re all on.
Delivering digestible overviews, analyses, and illustrations of psychology concepts and research conclusions that you will be able to immediately see apply to you.
Offering practical, research-backed strategies that can help you take action steps to support yourself and create the life you want.
Highlighting inspiring quotes, stories, affirmations, and links.
Spotlighting and linking to some of my most recent Instagram posts.
The newsletter will always be available for FREE. You can read it on my webpage, on the Substack app, or receive it directly to your inbox on Mondays by subscribing.
By subscribing, you will never have to log into a social media site or app or remember to keep up with my webpage. Each Monday, an email of encouragement, education, and inspiration will be delivered to your inbox. You can easily unsubscribe at any time.
I will never share my email lists.
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.
Upcoming opportunities
My plan now is to keep everything on this page free. I may add some additional features in the future, including:
Access to the community chat
Journaling challenges
Opportunities to share personal examples for possible inclusion in the upcoming book
First to know when I’ve signed a book deal.
First to know when books are available for pre-order
I’m glad you’re here!
I’m genuinely excited to explore and learn together as we build a community committed to Psyching each other up.
Thank you for joining me.
If you like my content and want to support me on this journey, there are a few easy things you can do:
Heart my posts.
Leave comments.
Follow me on Substack.
Subscribe to the newsletter (always free).
Emotionally: All of those actions provide me with feedback and encouragement to keep writing.
Practically: The more people take those actions, the more Substack algorithms amplify my work, the more readers will find me, and the more potential agents and publishers will see that there’s a potential audience for my book.
I humbly and fully appreciate your support!
Let the adventure begin.
