Salutations & felicitations on a year accomplished,
What a year this has been! When I think back to where I was in January it seems almost unrecognizable to me now. I had a different job, different things I held near, and for certain different expectations and worries. I wanted to end the year with a little professional retrospection and future thinking! This is for you and this is for me, a snap shot in time, an inhalation of clean air and exhalation of hope.
As the year began I was starting to feel a bit restless at work, after some personal professional strife I was realizing it was time to look forward & make some jefa moves to the next step. I took a gamble on applying for a temporary fellowship that would allow me the time and space to pursue the work I was wanting to do locally, but on the national scale from Washington DC. Around the same time I had the opportunity to travel to DC to serve as a panelist on a review committee. These experiences were formative to what would come to represent a transformative year, I was awarded the fellowship and thoroughly enjoyed reading and rating proposals.
In March the offices closed down and I began my transition to the fellowship, it was an awkward if not relaxed time. It felt good to have built up the program I was leading to a place where it could be sustained in my absence, though it was bittersweet to leave it. The experience of working from home felt very natural, almost as if it had always been this way! Was odd and amazing to work in my pajamas and take a break in the middle of the day to do whatever chore needed to be done. It was novel enough at the time where I appreciated the perks more than I missed the camaraderie at the office (such as it was). It was exciting to be moving into the next step and through April and May I held onto hope that I might still relocate to DC.
As the summer rolled in and with the pandemic raging, it became clear that I would remain working remotely, this was a bit of a bummer. I had really been looking forward to experiencing the nation's capital for a longer span of time. The last time I had been there for a long period I had been wide eyed freshly graduated from my museum studies program, spending a summer doing a fellowship with the Smithsonian Latino Center. I was ready to sink my teeth into the political scene and in an election year no less! I wanted to attend mixers on the Hill and lectures at the National Academy of Sciences, not to mention the museums. Alas the events were all cancelled or online and the museums stayed shut for most of the year. Staying put has had its perks for sure, short commute and being close to my partner being the most of note.
Another welcomed pandemic side effect was that I ended up taking more time to focus on healing and strengthening my resolve around my health. I mentioned being more active, thoughtful about what I consume, and sobriety in my last post (all these things are going well!), though for sure had a holiday cookie break. During this time I also spent more energy focusing my compass on the direction of my career future, super fuzzy at first, I am familiar with the cadence of this process after engaging in it multiple times. Thoughts surface and sink, the more salient ones return and become louder. Calibration is a slow and frustrating process, though I have come to enjoy it more as I get older. I find that I also take more pleasure in my uncertainty and cultivating patience and grace (a couple of my evergreen life goals).
The fellowship experience has been, a bit odd and not exactly what I expected. It's been amazing to get in touch with museums from across the country and learn more about their COVID trials & tribulations and how they are hanging in there (or not). The novelty of remote working has lost it's luster in on boarding to a new org and it's been really challenging to establish bonds with folks over the internet. All the while I have been seeking and pushing to figure out what is next and have (mostly) landed the plane on a shift in my line of work. Ahhh!
I am considering pursuing education in industrial and organizational psychology. I have grown interested in leadership and organizational development through a lens of social justice, inclusion, and cross cultural psychology. In my journey I have found an increasing need for support in non-profit, government, and corporations in developing an organizational culture where BIPOC (black, indigenous, & people of color) can thrive in their professional journeys. Currently I am thinking I would like to ultimately pursue a PhD in IO and work in government at the National Science Foundation or a major corporation. I am focused on how to intentionally affect change at a large scale, a theme in my work trajectory has revolved around magnifying my impact. I think that there is much potential in blending IO with concepts like restorative justice, social justice, and DEAI (diversity, equity, access, and inclusion) work and equipping institutions with solid grounding to change their cultures to be more inclusive! Interestingly, even though I have never wanted to work for myself, I began imaging my company and it's offerings. It was funner than I thought! I don't think I would go there right away, but it seems like a more palatable possibility now.
This means going back to school, getting a Masters of Science, taking statistics and research methods classes, I am both excited and scared about this! I started digging into some online curriculum and the excitement is mounting, this is a good sign. Another secondary reason for the shift in work is to consider more economically viable options in the future, something that had really not played a role in my decision making up until this point. It's weird to think about working in human resources, but I am really determined to make the change I want to see in the world, and get paid to do it. There is so much I have to learn about systemic oppression and how it is perpetuated in science, I would like to build on my career thus far in informal science education and expand it.
So that is where I landed at the end of this decade of a year! As it turns out, most applications for the fall of 2021 were due this month (wth), so I might be a little more delayed in starting a program than I anticipated. This might actually turn out to be ok because I want to lay some ground work- I have only taken a couple of psychology classes, I think I need some intro courses. This is still preliminary, but it's the clearest the path has felt in a while, so am basking in the joy of that for am moment before the next leg of the journey begins. Now I have to do more research on classes, scholarships, and find some mentors.
I hope you are doing good and finding the time to elucidate your goals.
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM 2021.
