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.