I am all settled in now. Settled into my work, settled in my home. My partner, he who gave me so much crap for moving to DC, is now slowly starting to enjoy the city, and has signed on for a post-doc with a huge PI and a huge lab at the NIH. I am slowly falling in love with my neighborhood and continue to be interested and challenged by my work. I get up in the morning, I go to the gym, I go to work, I come home and make dinner, and then I go to bed. Every day. And herein lies the problem. I am settled, for the first time in my life.
Before now, there was always a next step. There was graduate school after college, then post-doc, then a job to find and start. I am used to moving often, jumping from step to step, on down a preset path to new schools, new cities. Now, there is just… living my life. I know that life’s hurdles are hardly cleared, but I do feel a little nervous about the many years to come playing out exactly as the ones before. In other words, the transition from student (and I include post-docs in the student/training category) to a grown-up in the real world is proving more jarring than I had expected. I am relying on all the great bars and restaurants around my apartments to alleviate my continuing neuroticism and analysis. I think it’s working, for now.
Hmm. Congratulations, I think.
I can safely assure you that the many years to come will not play out exactly as the ones before. I can promise. So, not having a wall of some event or another that you know is impending – get used to it, and perhaps even enjoy it, if possible. You can always add in deadlines and goals later.
I do think congratulations are in order! Clearly it’s a very different world in the private sector, outside of bench science, than it was in school (or post-doc training, to which I can attest is little different except that even more is expected). Luckily it seems that your job keeps you on your toes with variety and with all of the things you can now do on week-ends (these elusive chunks of time only vaguely familiar to me), life will be interesting – just in a different way. I think maybe, it is altering one’s own perspective that is the most challenging – you’ve gotten through the rest – now you can ease up on pushing yourself to the next step and just enjoy the ride? Enough clichés for now :) I am so happy for (and so proud of) you!!
I know the feeling – it took me a while to adjust to life without the big-picture goal of a degree to aim for. I learned that setting smaller goals was important, and eventually, more satisfying! Try something new, take up a new hobby, set a professional goal to shoot for… and welcome to life on the other side!
Hi Anna,
I think it is a new phase in your life and you will hopefully enjoy every bit of it.
Life is about learning new things and enjoying the experiences as and when they come..As they say, all good things come in small packages . The private sector is a different ballgame altogether . So you should get used to it soon. An intelligent and successful woman like you should have no problems here too.
Relax and enjoy life..Yes I like the running around in my life but everyone has o settle at some point in life. You have yours now and that is good in my opnion.
It feels boring but trust me, you will need the order and predictability in life some day..
Stay in touch my friend and all the best..Congratulations on settling down.:)
Be careful with that… It gets expensive and addictive.
I wouldn’t worry too much. Life has a way of throwing your a curve-ball every now and then, just to keep things interesting.