Late nights in Burton-Connor 133
Last night, like so many nights here, my suite served as a gathering place for yet another life discussion. It seems that those of us gathered from all over the coutry in the various research programs here at MIT are all struggling with the same question: What to do with our lives?...but more specifically, How to balance friends and family with a career that will satisfy our minds without giving up the personal aspect? How to not get caught up in the competition to get ahead and still continue to enjoy life, and yet how to be all the we can be?
It seems that gathered here are all very inteligent, motivated people who have a very clear love of science, but whos' intersts also run to things like volleyball, photography, the outdoors. Most of us date and enjoy the emotional benefits of relationships not only with a significant other but with friends and family. Being here has made many of us realise that we are not as competative as we thought we were and that acceling at work may not be our only priority.
For the first time in my life, I have talked about wanting a family and kids without fearing that I will be placed into the "oh she wants to be a home-maker" category. Anyone who has met me even once knows that to be false, but among many of my college friends it seems that expressing this desire to have a family and maybe take a step from any possible career would seem ludicrous. When I brought this topic up on the phone with a certain male friend from home last night, he told me that "It all just sounds like girl talk". That's not true. It's not like I want to get hiched and knocked up right now...good god, no...not for another decade probably! But that is something that I definately want in my life. I want a husband and children to come home to. I'm not afraid or ashamed of this. I want to share any type of proffessional success I achieve with those I love and being part of this program has made me realise that I would rather be slightly less successful, but be able to come home to my family every night at a decent hour. I would never give up biology, but I fear that if I focus only on my career, like so many people tend to do, I will end up hating biology.
Watching the doctors and researchers I work with every day, many of us have started to realise our priorities and have seen that sometimes it pays to step back and enjoy those little things in life...sometimes an embrace of a child who love you is a thousand times more precious than an award that yeilds national aclaim. Granted, this is my opinion and one that has no particular conclusion, but it is comforting to know that there are other scientists, both male and female, who realise their potential but also realise that a missuse of this potential can make us all incredibly miserable.
It seems that gathered here are all very inteligent, motivated people who have a very clear love of science, but whos' intersts also run to things like volleyball, photography, the outdoors. Most of us date and enjoy the emotional benefits of relationships not only with a significant other but with friends and family. Being here has made many of us realise that we are not as competative as we thought we were and that acceling at work may not be our only priority.
For the first time in my life, I have talked about wanting a family and kids without fearing that I will be placed into the "oh she wants to be a home-maker" category. Anyone who has met me even once knows that to be false, but among many of my college friends it seems that expressing this desire to have a family and maybe take a step from any possible career would seem ludicrous. When I brought this topic up on the phone with a certain male friend from home last night, he told me that "It all just sounds like girl talk". That's not true. It's not like I want to get hiched and knocked up right now...good god, no...not for another decade probably! But that is something that I definately want in my life. I want a husband and children to come home to. I'm not afraid or ashamed of this. I want to share any type of proffessional success I achieve with those I love and being part of this program has made me realise that I would rather be slightly less successful, but be able to come home to my family every night at a decent hour. I would never give up biology, but I fear that if I focus only on my career, like so many people tend to do, I will end up hating biology.
Watching the doctors and researchers I work with every day, many of us have started to realise our priorities and have seen that sometimes it pays to step back and enjoy those little things in life...sometimes an embrace of a child who love you is a thousand times more precious than an award that yeilds national aclaim. Granted, this is my opinion and one that has no particular conclusion, but it is comforting to know that there are other scientists, both male and female, who realise their potential but also realise that a missuse of this potential can make us all incredibly miserable.