Bethany Butzer Blog
I’d like to share a story about two meaningful coincidences that occurred several years apart from each other, and that had a tremendous impact on my life. The first meaningful coincidence took place in 2015, when I decided to…
In January 2021 I was teaching an online lecture when I started to feel hot, then cold, then achy. I knew even before taking my temperature that I had a fever. I finished the lecture, took my temperature, sat on my couch, and cried. I was experiencing a moment that has filled many of us with dread. That moment, during the pandemic, when you realize that you might have COVID-19. I called my…
Over the last 5 years I’ve noticed an interesting pattern that is repeating itself in my life. The pattern involves me wanting or seeking something, only to be faced with obstacles that either make the situation quite difficult, or completely prevent me from getting what I want/need. It’s a pattern that…
There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a tough year for many people. And, at the same time, the struggles that we’ve experienced provide a potent field for transformation. Research suggests that…
Today I turn 40. In honor of my 40th birthday, I thought I would share some of my personal truths about midlife. I wrote my recent blog on The Truth About Marriage as a wedding speech that I would like to give to all newly married couples. I wanted to write this blog in a similar way, but it occurred to me that no one sits you down at age 40 to give you a speech about midlife. But perhaps someone…
Who talks about widowhood, miscarriages and divorce in a wedding speech? I do. Why? Because today is my 10-year wedding anniversary, and I want to tell you the truth about marriage.
These days we’re bombarded with tips, techniques and ideas to help us “find our passion” or “pursue our purpose.” And while there are lots of great materials out there to help increase our sense of meaning and purpose, sometimes all of this searching can leave us feeling confused and dissatisfied. It’s like we’re trying to…
There are a lot of terrible things going on in the world. Every day the news barrages us with stories of racism, sexism, war, genocide, environmental destruction, political corruption and much, much more. This fear-based diatribe is so persistent that it often takes up residence in our psyche. People use a variety of techniques to…
I’ve been pretty public about the fact that I’ve spent the past year going through some financial difficulties. While I absolutely understand that I’m privileged (my finances have never gotten so low that I became homeless or couldn’t eat), I’ve got to say that being broke sucks. I know that everyone has…
I've had a love affair with science for most of my life. But when science starts behaving like a dogmatic religion it’s no longer science. It’s scientism.
I've been a passion junkie since I was 16 years old. It all started in high school, when one of my teachers showed our class a video about a scientist named Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was doing research on learning, and his theories have had a major impact on the field of psychology. After watching the video, I asked my teacher…
I’ve never been big on setting new year’s resolutions. But for most of my life I’ve had a general idea of the major professional goals I was working toward in any given year. For 10 years my goal was to get my PhD. After that, when I had a corporate job, I worked hard to…
There’s a lot of talk these days about finding your purpose, identifying your passion, and establishing a sense of meaning in your life. Personally, I’ve had a (sometimes unhealthy) obsession with these topics for years. Some might even say…
Over the last few months I haven’t had as much consulting and teaching work as I normally would, and my finances have started to suffer. At first I thought it was a temporary lull, but eventually I found myself not earning enough to make ends meet. It got so bad that…
In 2018 I changed my website service provider, and my old provider didn't offer an easy way to migrate my blog to my new website. I ended up having to copy my blog from my old website so that I could paste it here. Below you'll find all of my blogs from 2010 to 2017. My apologies that the formatting isn't great, and I know some of the links within the blogs don't work anymore, but there's still a…
When I wrote my book, The Antidepressant Antidote, in 2010 I had big ambitions. I wanted to publish with Hay House, become a New York Times best-selling author, and eventually end up on Oprah. I think this type of “career trajectory” is shared by many in the self-help / personal development space. We believe strongly in our message, and we…
When I respond to questions about my professional background and current job, my answer often involves keywords like “Harvard,” "PhD," “consulting,” “research,” “psychology,” “yoga,” and “Prague.” These words make it sound like I have my shit together and even (perhaps) like I live an interesting life. And while this is true (to some extent) I think…
A few weeks ago I received some disappointing news. A book proposal that I’d been working on with a small publishing company was suddenly, and surprisingly, rejected. The idea for the book had been percolating in my mind for 4 years, and I spent 2 years sharing…