Day in the life + 1yr job reflections ☺️ DC is a slow burn kinda city to get used to. Lots of people here only for a couple years to make political connections and then move on. I felt a bit like an ugly duckling not working in government or having connections 😅. But I put in the work to find the people and places that make DC feel more like home :) shout out to my DC friends 🥰 My job requires me to think and write about science in a completely different way. Write like a lawyer, read papers like a reviewer. A mindset shift from “what experiments can I do to prove X” to “how many areas of science does this discovery relate to”. I knew there would be an adjustment period, but I didn’t think it would take so long to feel like I belong. My life suddenly slowed down without endless experiments to run which left me with constant anxiety feeling like I’m not doing enough. And I left academia not knowing who I was anymore without the identity of “researcher” or “student” and the scary thought that I might not even like science anymore because of how jaded I became during grad school. I’m learning to accept that I won’t know what I’m doing all the time in my career and a year later just beginning to learn the ropes. it’s getting easier every day :) I get to learn constantly, read about cool science, and help bring discoveries from the bench a step closer to the public. I have time to develop other parts of my identity, time to relax, and I’m starting to get my science moJo back 😌😎❤️‍🔥 A lot has changed, but a lot still hasn’t. I still put way too much on my to-do lists every day, I still find any opportunity to see through a microscope, and I still love posting cute lil things & connecting with everyone on here :) thanks for being here 🫶 chloethescientist womeninscience WomeninSTEM scicomsciencecommunication stem steminist science scientist phd phdcareer sciencecareer sciencejob thisiswhatascientistlookslike LTKSeasonal LTKWorkwear LTKStyleTip