Never say never

There have been many things of which I have sworn I would never do them. Some of these things will stay true forever, like I will never ever give birth or wear a dress. With other things I have been less consistent.

For example, I always said I would never ever…become a graduate student, move to a small town, move to Germany or get married. So far I have done the first three and even the fourth one does not seem all that impossible now.

The latest of many things I said I’d never do is become a teacher. In fact, while I was in grad school I kept telling everyone who would hear it I only loved conducting research and teaching sucked. I would never ever do that full time.

A few years have gone by since then and now I find myself having a job as an assistant professor that consist for a large part of teaching. And guess what? I love it! I love being a teacher and getting students excited about research.

Yep, I am mainly teaching research methods/statistics, which most psychology students hate. It is so rewarding and fun to see when all of a sudden it starts making sense to them. It is funny how when it comes to teaching I am so patient and I do not mind explaining the same thing over and over again.

Perhaps I could learn to apply some of that patience to my personal life as well. Hmm. Anyways, my point is that I love my job and I love teaching, even though I always thought I’d hate it. The lesson kids is don’t say never to quickly….you might be missing out on something great.

Comments

Delphine said…
I have extremely mixed feelings about teaching. With participative classes, it is easy to feel enthusiastic and get carried over. But really there is nothing more depressing than teaching in front of "zombie" classes...
I am happy that your experience went well.
Nat, meet the universe, the universe, Nat ;) Sometimes I think we actively avoid our own fates.
Glad you love the teaching! Caty loves being a teacher too.
Natazzz said…
Jennifer, you're right. And being such a pigheaded person who always screams NO to anything new doesn't help either ;-)

I'm lucky Delphine, most of my classes are optional, so I only get the students who want to be there.