Lately I’ve been reflecting on my passions and goals as a scientist, and thinking about how this might play into future choices and paths. I’m trying to figure out not only what I am good at (my skills), but also what makes me happy and gives me energy (my strengths). To give an example: I am good at doing my taxes, but doing them stresses me out and drains me (skill not strength). I am also good at connecting people/experts. For example, X can fix bikes and Y needs a bike mechanic. X is going to the Arctic and can collect samples for Y who has the expertise to process and analyze them. I get great satisfaction from connecting people (skill and strength). Another thing I am good at and enjoy (strength) is seeing stories and communicating them (e.g. the story behind an everyday scene, or the story behind my scientific data).
This last example reminded me of the writer in me. Not just the academic writer, but the travel writer, the human-interest writer, etc. A lot of my personal travel stories are already posted on this blog (see the travel tag), but I’ve decided to rewrite and post some work I did just before I entering grad school. This writing is an email chronicle about my adventures in Panama. To protect myself and others, I will change names and adapt various aspects of the story. So think of it as a work of fiction based on a true story.
Here is a prelude,
I am in the air and on my way to spend 3.5 months living and working in Panama. A part of me really feels as though this is a new beginning – the start of something new and bigger than I ever imagined. But how did I end up here? Wise-post-doc G suggested that, before starting grad school, I get on the internet and apply for the most adventurous job available. It’s amazing what you can find online! So now, three months later, I find myself on this plane to Panama. I am entering ecological research to discover new things, encounter new places and people, and hopefully inspire others along the way. As long as I am in this game I need to keep those goals in mind. Grad school should not be about a few more letters after my name. This, and what follows, is about my growth as a person, steps on the road to becoming wise and worldly. At this moment a world of opportunities are laid out before me and I have a feeling that this job in Panama will change the way I look at life forever. A summer in Panama working in the jungle with complete strangers is scary, but extremely exciting, and it is truly following my dreams.
As you’ll see here, and in more detail in later posts, that summer in Panama really did change the way I looked at life. Furthermore, my MSc, coupled with immigration nightmares that made living in Canada difficult, propelled me into a PhD that led to insight and adventures living in Europe (Barcelona, Paris, Berlin) and following my birds all over the world (the Wadden Sea, Mauritania 1, 2).
