Love what you do

It's one of those simple things people always tell you growing up: "Love what you do." But they never tell you  how you are supposed to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. I think it was easier to decide that I wanted to spend my life with Travis than choose a career I thought I would enjoy. I kept wondering:

How are you ever supposed to know that you won't be bored in your career?
How do you choose something that you will enjoy doing the day-to-day, and not just the end result?

There has been a lot of questioning in my mind the last two years as I went through classes, and picked my lab. I enjoyed the people I was working with, sometimes enjoyed the science I was learning, but I wasn't really happy to be there most of the time. Then these last couple months when I was studying for my "preliminary exam," {the terrifying oral exam you need to take to become a PhD candidate, in which they can ask you anything they want to}, I really began to question whether I was where I wanted to be. I just kept telling myself "Just get through this and then you can decide what you want to do."

Then came the epiphany... Well not so much epiphany, but I finally seem to have jumped through enough hoops that I can spend most of my time doing the part of science that I enjoy - experiments. I realized I was actually enjoying going to work for the first time since I started grad school, despite the fact that I am working almost 12-hour days {by choice} and am often on my feet the whole day.

It has been so rewarding to have the time to do what I want, rather than worrying about other random "checkpoints" that I need to pass.

I don't have any sage advice to give to someone who is trying to pick a career - but know this: When you do find that something that you really enjoy and love going to work -- it is well worth all the "hoops" you had to jump through to get there.