Finding stability in horizons

A week in review post.

Hi neighbors! How are you holding up? Regardless of your political views, the world feels loud, doesn’t it? Well, maybe loud isn’t the only word. It feels turbulent and shifting too. And, that doesn’t seem to end any time soon. So much is changing right now, things are loud, policies are shifting, people are impacted. It’s hard to watch, isn’t it? Or perhaps it’s also hard to know what to do. Let me tell you what I’m doing in hopes it helps a bit.

When I started graduate school, I had a 2 year old and a 3 month old. If I’m being honest, I was floored I even got into UNC! The epidemiology PhD program was my top choice and the top epidemiology program in the country (for public universities). My GRE scores were subpar (by a lot!) and I had loads of imposter syndrome. I didn’t come from a big city or an Ivy League school, I was a woman in science entering a field classically non-women-dominated (but that’s changing!), and hadn’t worked with known big-sciency-people. But, off my little family of 4 went to North Carolina. To my dismay, the imposter syndrome didn’t magically disappear on day one either. I thought I would hold new confidence as I started the program. I held a little of that. But, mostly I lugged around a breastpump (from having a 3 month old), a huge backpack, and the dumb imposter syndrome tagged along too.