In the spirit of the holidays, I would like to focus this week’s blog on what I am thankful for.

There are many things happening around the world and close to home that are unsettling and unfortunate, but I will let the news cover those topics for now. Instead of focusing on the negative I would like to take this opportunity to list off some of the positives.

I am thankful…

For  all the friends and family I am blessed to have in my life.  I had a friendsgiving and 2 family thanksgivings and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Sometimes having a large group of family and friends can be difficult in terms of coordinating or managing personalities (especially with the bold personalities in my family), but it is a wonderful problem to have and I feel very lucky to have such a concrete network of support and love.

For my job. No, not CURVE, I’ll touch on that one further down.  My other job, as a bartender, which allows me to make money that works around my school and life schedule and is flexible enough to not hinder anything that can further my education or life experiences.  This job also allows me to experience a unique and diverse group of people.  Many stay within their field, or comfort zone their entire adult lives, never interacting with different groups of people – in one night I can meet and interact with CEO’s, scientists, marketing execs, accountants, college students, rappers, programmers and everything else in between.  Understanding how all these people interact within their lives and with each other has helped me become more aware of how my research can impact and influence each of them, understanding the commonalities an differences that drive each of us.

For my upbringing. I grew up in a house that valued hard work and education. I had parents that made sure my homework and chores were done, my stomach was full and my interests were varied.  We were constantly reading and learning, trying new things and encouraging and supporting each other throughout our accomplishments and failures. It was never questioned if I would go to college, it was just a matter of which college – something I realized as a I got older is not the case in many households. I was fortunate to live in a safe community that allowed me to focus on the pleasantries of life, my stress was focused on school, boys, friends, work, applying to college or figuring out how to manage my many activities – petty drama really, and a blessing.

For this fellowship. CURVE as a space has shown me the potential for this technology and the type of work that can be done in a collaborative environment. I have learned from my fellow SIFs and guest lecturers, allowing me to develop new approaches to my research and future career plans. Student Innovation Fellow –  just my title as evoked spirited and influential conversations among friends or at conferences.  It has opened doors and dialog among various academic and non academic partners, many times just out of curiosity on their parts.

I could continue on the list of the things I am thankful for, but I will end it here. Each one of these factors has allowed me to explore the possibilities of what my life could be and has helped inform what type of person I strive to become. Each variable, as it was, has influenced my research and my relationships and will continue to influence the trajectory of my life and my career moving forward.

Feel free to use this to comment on what you are thankful for, sometimes it is nice to list them out, reminding yourself of the positives when life stress and school loads feel overwhelming.