Dive Right In

I'm not sure where to begin, so I will start with something I know: gymnastics. Growing up as a gymnast, I learned to thrive on that feeling of uncertainty and fear just before throwing a big trick. That feeling of standing at the end of a four inch balance beam preparing to launch myself blindly backwards is familiar, and in a weird way, comforting to me. A year ago, I started graduate school with that same feeling in the pit of my stomach. Everything around me was new - new apartment, new roommate, new job, new significant other, new classes, building, professors, friends. I was anxious and nervous about what would lie ahead, but even more excited to dive in and learn about the broad world that is public health.

At that time, my exposure to public health was limited to a few interesting undergraduate courses and an internship with Ponseti International. As I listened to my classmates' experiences at orientation, I couldn't help but be a little jealous. Many had traveled the world, worked in communities, and helped vulnerable populations - real "boots on the ground" public health practice (although many of them may not have realized it at the time). I knew that each person I met had something unique to teach me, and I welcomed their stories and little lessons.

My fellow CBH students at the American Public Health Association Conference 2012

As I was thrown into life as a graduate student and started to lay the foundation for the rest of my education, I found myself constantly coming back to these five items as a kind of personal survival guide. I try to remember these five things as I move through my busy weeks:

1. Keep an open mind - public health is a constantly evolving field and draws upon many other disciplines. If you find yourself questioning how you normally would think about a problem or solution, then you are doing it right!

2. Engage and explore - Whether your in class or at a conference, turn off your phone, shut your computer, and open your mind. You will be amazed at how much you will get out of those moments without distractions. Don't worry, your 100s of e-mails will still be there when you're done.

3. Actively seek opportunity - There was so many opportunities out there that are waiting for you! Network, be enthusiastic, be willing to work for free, and learn as much as you can from each experience. 

4. Learn the lingo - Public health is stuffed full of acronyms and jargon - APHA, NACCHO, community based participatory research, sequestration. It's OK if you don't know everything right off the bat! My advice is keep a small notebook with you at all times and jot down things you don't know. Google them later.

5. Find your "me" time - Life as a graduate student is a balancing act (sorry for the cliche). My advice is find the time to do something just for yourself each week. For me it is an hour of yoga a couple times a week, and in the winter some Hot Cocoa and a book.

The purpose of this blog is to write freely about my experience as an MPH student - to share my passions, revelations, challenges and questions to the public health going on all around me. I hope to capture an organic viewpoint of what it is like to be exploring and navigating the field of public health as a student and growing professional. I also plan to bring in guest bloggers (colleagues and faculty) from my department to enrich my viewpoint and offer differing perspectives. This experience is one that is very new for me. I have never been one to journal or document my own interactions with the world, especially in a public venue. However, if gymnastics taught me one life lesson, it is that by making yourself a little uncomfortable every day, you end up with a product you can be proud of.

"Be brave enough to live creatively. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can only get there by hard work, by risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful: Yourself."
-Alan Alda