Different Perspectives

Dead Poet's Society is one of my favorite movies.  One of my favorite scenes in the movie is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgWDUKP6Quk

Too often we get caught up in our own point of view.

This weekend was interview weekend for my department.  It was really strange to see all the applicants, so anxious to do well, and so unsure of their futures.  I spent most of the time feeling like a total impostor...I have not been here that long, and usually feel like I don't know what I'm doing, so how am I qualified to be interviewing these people?  

It was a good opportunity to change my perspective though.  I saw things through the interviewees eyes: I saw how excited and enthusiastic they were.  It took me back to this time last year (yes, I know, way back), how excited I was and how lucky I felt for the opportunities I was getting.  It reminded me that, in spite of how hard it is sometimes, and in spite of the various unpleasant aspects of graduate school, there is a reason I chose this path.  Research is exciting...thinking and doing intellectual work is fun...I came to Rochester because the program here is really good, and I really like my lab, my advisor, and the work that  we do.

It is so easy to forget that we are where we are in large part due to choices we make.  It is easy to become jaded and focus on the negative aspects of something we once loved when it becomes routine.  There is a reason graduate students complain a lot - it is hard work! I want to remember, though, that I worked hard to be here, and I can't really see my self as happy doing anything else.  The goal is to keep my excitement.