Satisfyingly Accomplished

So the last two weeks have been great. (The fact that we were on Spring break was probably a contributor). But two significant things have happened to me that have changed my outlook.

(1) I went to another university to give a seminar.
I have done this before, but this was one of the first times that I have been fully comfortable with it. Now that I am more seasoned, I actually had things to talk about with each faculty that I met with. This made the situation much more comfortable than when I was interviewing. Also, my talk was 2/3 data from my lab and only 1/3 postdoc data (and no PhD data!). When putting it together I realized how much we have accomplished and I was proud.

(2) I put together my annual report for my annual review
When I started to put this together, I was dwelling on the fact that all 6 of my grants submitted in the Fall were rejected. As I put together the yearly report, I realized the one that I got funded actually falls in this review year. Also, as I started to list all my accomplishments, I realized that I have been busy, and that I have done a lot more than I thought.

I think sometimes sitting back and taking stock of what you have done can be really refreshing. It is easy to get focused in the details of now and not recognize the successes that you have already had. That made me feel much better.