Rewind and Fast Forward: Reflections on the First Semester and Resolutions for 2014

I feel like I’m a director sometimes. The director of my own personal movie.  Director. Actor. Screenwriter. Producer.  Editor.  I’ve definitely been flitting between these different roles during the past few days since Christmas in what has been one of the first opportunities I have had to revisit and digest my first semester at SOM. Retrospectively, it seems like it has flown by.  Yet, at the same time, it seems like I have been at SOM forever.  (Part of that might be the fact that this is my 3rd year in New Haven, though, so the Yale/New Haven community as a whole has become my second home).

These past few months have—for me—been filled with some of my highest highs and lowest lows.  It has been a period of immense personal and professional growth.  Many of my classmates inspire me and have extraordinary things to share both inside and outside of the classroom.  I often find myself mesmerized by their backgrounds, their histories, and their ideas.  I am fascinated whenever I get a bird’s eye view into a classmate’s thought process in figuring out a problem or planning an event or explaining a concept.  My classmates have inculcated within me a desire to push boundaries and have reinforced my desire to find and forge connections among different people, cultures, industries, and ideas. 

Passion coupled with a willingness to seek out new opportunities, relationships, and knowledge can yield much more than we initially might conceive.

We can do so much.
We can turn this world upside down.

In pondering all of this, I set out to jot down some New Years’ Resolutions.  Cliché, perhaps, but a valuable exercise for me.  My immediate thought was that I wanted 2014 to be the year of challenging myself to do things outside my comfort zone (within reason, of course)—again with the goal of growing, learning, and finding patterns and meaning in every experience.   Within several minutes, I came up with a list of 7 key goals for this year, each with several ideas about how I envision these goals will be achieved.  Many of these goals are connected to or inspired by experiences or conversations or opportunities I have engaged in at SOM.  I’d challenge you to consider how you can push yourself this year. And, I’d challenge you also to make sure I’m keeping up my end of the bargain!

1. Dare to Dream and Dream BIG.
2. Challenge myself to grow beyond the current boundaries of my comfort zone.
3. Push myself to explore, investigate, learn, and take in everything I can.
4. Show gratitude consistently.  As a corollary, make sure to graciously thank people for their efforts and contributions.
5. Engage in the things that I care about and/or am interested in regardless of what others think.
6. Laugh.  A lot.  Fully, robustly, and wholeheartedly.
7. Relish each and every moment.