On Track

The longer I'm in this profession, the more I realize just how amazing epidemiology really is...or can be. For anyone who likes to constantly be changing up what they are doing, epidemiology is a great career move. In just the past week, I've:
1) written about fifty mathematical models to predict teen dating violence
(for the few who would appreciate it, here's a great comic)
2) advised the state on policy implications of my models
3) helped to write a grant for a coordinated effort to prevent domestic and sexual violence
4) mentored two graduate students
5) created and sent out a survey to child death review council members
6) picked away at an evaluation i'm conducting of the child death review process
7) initiated planning for strategic vision shift within the DOH around domestic and sexual violence
8) written visual basic script for a massive database
9) led discussion on how to go about fixing the toxic, sexualized, marginalized environment in which women live
10) prepared two major sections of a manuscript for publication on substance abuse and teen dating violence.
11) wrote up a scope of work for the huge state contract I'm trying to get with my consulting company.

And that's just at work.
I've also been taking disaster management classes with the Red Cross, been out surfing, been getting my butt kicked by my trainer at the gym, been having dinner with friends, and been spending a bunch of time with N and H.

I look at what I've just written and wonder if it's possible that I've actually done all that in just a week. And, yeah...apparently it is. I'm simultaneously proud of all that and wondering when exactly I'm going to completely melt down.

But back to the larger point, I'm glad I've come back around to loving my profession. I was getting pretty discouraged for awhile, but I think it was a factor of resettling into things and deciding where I really want to focus myself. And this is just for now. I mean, I've got big plans. And really, I can't imagine not accomplishing everything I want to. I hope I read back on this in 10 years and think "Yeah, I'm still right on track." I have a feeling I will.