When Things Shape Your Identity

Hello everyone 👋

We’re in a really strict lockdown where I am (Ontario, Canada). It’s really sad to see how many cases there are and how overloaded the ICUs are getting — I just hope that everyone realizes the gravity of the situation and acts accordingly. It’s times like this which really reinforce my pursuit of a career dedicated to helping others…

Ontario is on lockdown. A very strict one too.

Over the course of this year, one lesson that I have been repeatedly taught is to never expect things to go the way you plan them out. Taking COVID-19 as an example, the vaccine rollout personally made me more optimistic that there would be a reduction in cases — both wildtype and variants — to eventually lead to a summer where we could safely gather with our friends and family after almost a year and a half of household metapopulations.

Nope.

Several of my friends were incredibly hopeful to resume their summer 2020 internships this summer: COVID said nope.

Some of my subscribers were hopeful to come to their university campus for the first time during the 2nd semester this year: COVID said nope.

This kinda got me thinking of how dispensable things really are, things such as internships, opportunities, experiences — the majority of what (I feel) students base their “worth” and “identity” on.

At the very least, this pandemic has been a truly humbling experience, making me find out what really matters to me. Is it really that research position that I’ve been gunning for, or that leadership experience in Fiji/Tanzania that I was supposed to go to? Were those the “things” that defined who I am or what people thought of me?

Not gonna lie to you, prior to the pandemic it was. It was all about trying to be the one with the largest funding, best research position, most “stacked resume” which defined my perception of my worth to someone else. It’s a toxic ideology which I fear that too many of us adopt nowadays.

It’s a challenging concept, especially when we’re institutionalized into a culture where we highly regard those who obtain the biggest and best internships, experiences, recommendations, connections…things.

Being conscious is the first step. Being self-aware of this mindset for me really allowed me to question what really matters, and what I really should be focusing on. For me, that’s (i) trying to help/inspire/mentor others, (ii) always learning and discovering, and (iii) staying true to my values and faith.

It’s a true struggle, but we’re all working through it. If you’d ever want to chat about this with me, I’d love to sit down with you and talk about this. Just shoot me an email ([email protected]) and we can set something up.

If this helped you today, consider sharing it with someone! Maybe they really need to hear this as well. Thanks a lot for tuning in today :)

👷‍♂️ siRNA induced silencing of SOD1 gene mediates ALS symptoms — A one page review on the clinical implications for RNA-interfering technologies towards Amyloid Lateral Sclerosis that I wrote for my genetics class. Feedback is very, very welcome :)

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