Today I want to share a little thing that reminded me of a bigger things and then things I want to incorporate into my everyday life (PhD or otherwise).
After a long day of class and work, I was marching down Stone Way Ave with a very full backpack, looking forward to being home as much as my backpack was full. I received a text from a friend – "Come to Fremont [Brewing] for a fresh hop before you get home" – to which I resisted for about 30 seconds. (That should provide adequate insights into my priortization of my people and/or fresh hops, and particularly fresh hops at Fremont Brewing)
Upon joining everyone at Fremont, we cheered Caitlyn Steiner for her well-deserved promotion (Assistant Director, wahoo!) and chit-chatted for a bit. Then Caitlyn asked: "Nancy, what did you learn at school today?"
Huh, what a great question. Like a really great question.
After spending about a decade in global health (and in particular, population health measurement and related endeavors), I know a decent amount of things. Like if my former 686 officemates turned around in their seats and asked "Hey Nancy, do you know about xyz?" there was a good chance (p < 0.05, so take that as you will) I generally could answer it (or at minimum, tell you who to ask to get the answer). Yet there's essentially no limit to what I don't know, and one of the things I've loved about working at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and now grad school is being in a state of always learning. My greatest fears are (1) being bored; and relatedly (2) no longer learning, both of which are easily remedied by the combination of doctoral studies and continued IHME employment. This question, in combination with practice from another phenomenal colleague (more below), has inspired me to (try to) document what I learn over the course of my PhD.
Aubrey Levine, another friend-colleague from IHME, introduced me to the concept of writing down what you're grateful for each day. While potentially blasphemous in theory (you've never thought of doing this – what are you, a selfish heathen?!), in application, it takes a level of conscientiousness that I rarely find at the end of the day. Yet taking that step back, and truly thinking about all of things for which I have immense gratitude, is so, so important – especially in my field, and especially all I have to be grateful for.
So here's what I'm going to do: whenever I post something, I will include (1) what I learned; and (2) what I'm grateful for today. This kind of regular exercise – reflecting and documenting what I'm learning and grateful for in an ongoing manner – may seem like a small thing, but in totality, these are the small things that amount to big, important things.
Today I learned...
Washington State has (or at least had in one point in time) among the highest levels of epidemiologists per capita in the US.
The map below was featured in my epidemiology class, and – warning, not-so-humble brag – as a fellow classmate can attest, I guessed what measure the map was meant to reflet within a few seconds of it being on the screen. Hurrah for deductive (or is it inferential) reasoning?
Today I'm grateful for...
Badass women, in general and specifically today, Aubrey Levine and Caitlyn Steiner. I'm grateful for everything you do for your people, in and outside of work, in all the discernible and less obvious ways you do them.
After a long day of class and work, I was marching down Stone Way Ave with a very full backpack, looking forward to being home as much as my backpack was full. I received a text from a friend – "Come to Fremont [Brewing] for a fresh hop before you get home" – to which I resisted for about 30 seconds. (That should provide adequate insights into my priortization of my people and/or fresh hops, and particularly fresh hops at Fremont Brewing)
Upon joining everyone at Fremont, we cheered Caitlyn Steiner for her well-deserved promotion (Assistant Director, wahoo!) and chit-chatted for a bit. Then Caitlyn asked: "Nancy, what did you learn at school today?"
Huh, what a great question. Like a really great question.
After spending about a decade in global health (and in particular, population health measurement and related endeavors), I know a decent amount of things. Like if my former 686 officemates turned around in their seats and asked "Hey Nancy, do you know about xyz?" there was a good chance (p < 0.05, so take that as you will) I generally could answer it (or at minimum, tell you who to ask to get the answer). Yet there's essentially no limit to what I don't know, and one of the things I've loved about working at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and now grad school is being in a state of always learning. My greatest fears are (1) being bored; and relatedly (2) no longer learning, both of which are easily remedied by the combination of doctoral studies and continued IHME employment. This question, in combination with practice from another phenomenal colleague (more below), has inspired me to (try to) document what I learn over the course of my PhD.
Aubrey Levine, another friend-colleague from IHME, introduced me to the concept of writing down what you're grateful for each day. While potentially blasphemous in theory (you've never thought of doing this – what are you, a selfish heathen?!), in application, it takes a level of conscientiousness that I rarely find at the end of the day. Yet taking that step back, and truly thinking about all of things for which I have immense gratitude, is so, so important – especially in my field, and especially all I have to be grateful for.
So here's what I'm going to do: whenever I post something, I will include (1) what I learned; and (2) what I'm grateful for today. This kind of regular exercise – reflecting and documenting what I'm learning and grateful for in an ongoing manner – may seem like a small thing, but in totality, these are the small things that amount to big, important things.
Today I learned...
Washington State has (or at least had in one point in time) among the highest levels of epidemiologists per capita in the US.
The map below was featured in my epidemiology class, and – warning, not-so-humble brag – as a fellow classmate can attest, I guessed what measure the map was meant to reflet within a few seconds of it being on the screen. Hurrah for deductive (or is it inferential) reasoning?
Today I'm grateful for...
Badass women, in general and specifically today, Aubrey Levine and Caitlyn Steiner. I'm grateful for everything you do for your people, in and outside of work, in all the discernible and less obvious ways you do them.
No comments:
Post a Comment