So one of the things that I’ve been thinking about lately is my career–I know that my current position is just a job–a way of earning money to pay off the debts (namely credit cards), but it isn’t something that I want to make a life out of doing. There isn’t any room for advancement, and at times the environment can be a little too much to handle (especially for a sarcastic introvert who at least knows when to keep the sarcasm to herself).

So I think I’d posted before that I’d almost settled on my top three positions of trying to transition into industry. I’d been thinking of doing R&D research; market research analyst, or maybe a product manager. But since then I’ve been thinking that growth comes from being slightly uncomfortable, and while there are a few things that probably won’t happen, I can try to step into an area I’m uncomfortable in and see if I can grow there and make a career “learning from the thing that makes me slightly uncomfortable”. So I’m thinking that my choices are going to be shaken up again, and while I’m going to keep R&D research & market analyst, I’m going to insert health economist in between them.

The main reason why I’d initially shied away from health economist, is the amount of writing that one has to do. I’m just starting to rediscover my enjoyment of writing for the sake of writing. Scientific writing is something that is a weak point for me (I was really never taught how to properly write a scientific paper or proposal), as I was always told my writing style was that of someone trying to tell a story. Writing short stories was something I use to enjoy doing (making up worlds and everything that went with it), but then going through college, grad school, and a couple of post-doc positions put a serious dent in my writing enjoyment. That enjoyment is something that I’m just starting to rediscover, and hopefully if I do land a position as an health economist–the writing won’t be that bad (more of writing reports than detailed papers).

The health economist position has been gaining more traction in my mind lately, as health and fitness is something that I’m interested in (and I would also say semi-passionate about). I think it would be nice to be able to maybe bridge science and the health/fitness world by going in the health economist direction.

Another thing that I’m going to focus on is getting back into shape and watching my nutrition. I’ve been trying to log my calories this week, and for the most part it has been okay, though I declare each day to be an estimation at the end, since several lunches were leftovers from restaurants and the program didn’t have that particular restaurant/food listed and therefore I went with the next best choice that I thought had probably about the same amount of calories as what I was eating. My reason for getting into the “best shape of my life” is to do some hikes–I’d like to hike at the Grand Canyon, I’d also like to hike to the Incan ruins in Peru as well; and to do either hike–I need to be in better shape than I am right now.

So that is where my dreams are leading–a different career path (most likely; or at least a different industry), and getting in better shape so that I can get out and enjoy more time in nature and see more of the natural wonders of the world, and the ancient ruins as well.